Confluence of States Manager
The Confluence of States needs a steady operator who can keep a multi-state coalition aligned, visible, and moving with consistency across members, partners, sponsors, and the broader outdoor recreation economy.
Point of View
The opportunity in this role is not to add more activity. It is to create more order, more momentum, and more value from the activity already happening across the Confluence.
The strongest version of this position is someone who functions as the organization’s operating backbone: the person who keeps communication sharp, meetings productive, relationships active, and priorities moving. In a coalition environment, consistency is leverage. When the operating rhythm is strong, the network becomes stronger.
Strategic Priorities
1. Tighten Internal Execution
- Create a more disciplined cadence across meetings, follow-up, and internal communications.
- Ensure member states are not just informed, but actively supported and well connected.
- Reduce friction, ambiguity, and dropped handoffs across the network.
2. Raise the Standard of Visibility
- Position the Confluence as the credible national platform for state outdoor recreation offices.
- Bring sharper consistency to newsletter, LinkedIn, website updates, and outward-facing messaging.
- Communicate impact in ways that are useful to sponsors, partners, and stakeholders.
3. Strengthen the Partnership Layer
- Maintain stronger communication with Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, sponsors, and industry partners.
- Create more deliberate points of connection between the states and the outdoor economy ecosystem.
- Support the kind of relationship management that leads to trust, continuity, and growth.
4. Build Organizational Durability
- Improve reporting, storytelling, and operational clarity around priorities and outcomes.
- Support sponsorship and long-range sustainability efforts with stronger infrastructure.
- Replace ad hoc execution with repeatable systems that can scale with the organization.
Operating Model
Communication as Infrastructure
Build a dependable communication rhythm across internal and external channels: monthly newsletter, weekly LinkedIn, timely website updates, clear partner touchpoints, and stronger post-meeting follow-through. The objective is to create confidence that the Confluence is organized, present, and responsive.
Meetings That Move the Work
Tighten the mechanics around agendas, notes, action items, ownership, and next steps. Treat monthly meetings and biannual convenings as operating assets, not calendar events. Each one should create momentum, visibility, and forward motion across the network.
Member Value + New State Onboarding
Make it easier for member states to stay engaged, access value, and remain connected to the broader coalition. At the same time, build a smoother and more intentional path for onboarding new offices and directors into the Confluence.
Partnership Discipline
Operate as the connective layer across sponsors, partners, industry relationships, and fiscal sponsor coordination. Keep communication active, identify alignment opportunities, and make sure the value of the Confluence is clearly reinforced through every touchpoint.
Reporting That Proves Value
Translate movement into narrative. Show how the work of the Confluence advances economic development, conservation, public health, community wellbeing, and state-level outdoor recreation leadership. Strong reporting should make support easier to justify and growth easier to sustain.
Independent, High-Trust Execution
This role requires someone who does not need to be overmanaged. The work calls for judgment, responsiveness, initiative, and the ability to keep multiple priorities moving without constant intervention. The value is not just in doing tasks. It is in creating operational trust.
First 90 Days
Assess the Operating Reality
- Meet leadership, partners, and a representative group of member states.
- Audit current communications, meetings, workflows, and support needs.
- Identify where momentum is being lost and where immediate improvements can be made.
Stabilize the Core Rhythm
- Standardize meeting materials, action tracking, and follow-up expectations.
- Establish a clear publishing rhythm for newsletter, LinkedIn, and website updates.
- Create more visibility into priorities, projects, partner communication, and member support.
Create Early Proof of Lift
- Deliver a more consistent outward presence and tighter internal coordination.
- Improve sponsor and partner touchpoints around clarity, responsiveness, and value.
- Build early confidence that the Confluence is becoming more organized, more visible, and easier to engage with.
What Success Looks Like
- Member states feel supported, informed, and more connected to the value of the coalition.
- Meetings and convenings are cleaner, stronger, and more outcome-driven.
- Sponsors and partners experience a more responsive and credible organization.
- Communications present the Confluence with consistency, confidence, and relevance.
- The organization becomes more durable because it is operating with stronger systems, not more noise.
Final Note
The organization already has the mission and the network. The opportunity is to bring stronger structure behind it, so the organization becomes more aligned, more visible, and more effective.
