The Office of the President provides administrative, financial, schedule, reporting and travel support to the President & Vice-Chancellor, and is the central hub of all decision-making at the University of Winnipeg.

The Executive Assistant is a full-time continuing position that supports the President and Vice-Chancellor in person, by phone, by e-mail and remotely. This successful candidate must maintain confidentiality, provide excellent customer service and have strong communication skills. The Executive Assistant ensures the President’s use of time is coordinated appropriately while demonstrating flexibility in an ever-changing environment with the ability to multi-task amid a number of distractions.

Responsibilities:

Scheduling and Coordinating

• Ensures action is taken on any business arising from meetings, briefings, events, and visits.
• Ensures the effective operation of the President and Vice-Chancellor’s Office in coordinating administrative and logistic duties and tasks.
• Assists with requests in a timely and confidential manner.
• Requests speaking notes from University Advancement when required.
• Establishes relationships with various internal and external contacts.
• Schedules and maintains President’s calendar on a daily, weekly, monthly basis making independent decisions and managing priorities.
• Manages meetings and events by gathering/researching information and scheduling necessary pre-briefings meetings.
• Arranges contact between the President and Vice-Chancellor’s Office and other institutions.
• Review all requests that come into the office and assess what action needs to be taken in response.
• Schedules and coordinates the distribution of agenda packages for Senior Administration meetings, engages with the appropriate senior administrator to ensure the development and submission of required agenda items. Creates and distributes summary notes and follows-up on action items.
• Ensures regular meeting schedule with all direct reports and ensures agendas and files are prepared.
• Schedules and coordinates online when required.
• Gathers and prints documents related to daily schedule.

Administrative Support

• Ensures that the materials received by the President and Vice-Chancellor’s office are of high quality, appropriate for the issue(s) being addressed, and will effectively support the President.
• Ensures the President and Vice-Chancellor is prepared for all meetings.
• Ensures the President and Vice-Chancellor is briefed on critical correspondence and advised of actions being undertaken in response.
• Provides support to the President and Vice-Chancellor regarding strategic and operational initiatives.
• Provides support to the President and Vice-Chancellor for internal and external events. Ensures the completion of necessary research, speaking points, speeches, and presentations.
• Facilitates and coordinates the preparation of briefing notes from the senior executive team.
• Serves as a liaison between the President and Vice-Chancellor and other areas of the University.
• Responsible for managing email accounts and identifying valid requests of the President’s Office and redirecting those that would be more appropriately handled by other departments.
• Prepares and sends correspondence on behalf of the President and Vice-Chancellor as required.
• Manages the incoming mail.
• Prepares and maintains confidential files.
• Greets and welcomes visitors and provides them with any materials required for meetings.
• Maintains the President and Vice-Chancellor’ s Office and Boardroom.

Travel and Meeting Logistics

• Coordinates meetings with government officials, dignitaries, institutions and various external groups/parties.
• Coordinates travel both for domestic and international events.
• Ensures timely submission of documents for travel.
• Acts as liaison between the President and Vice-Chancellor and outside event planners.
• Prepares travel itinerary in precise detail.
• Works with University Advancement Office to schedule Alumni and fundraising events when the President and Vice-Chancellor visits a city with an Alumni population.
• Arranges meeting times, confirms participants, provides catering, AV requests, cooperating with other departments as needed.

Governance, Budget, and Financial Tracking

• In consultation with the President, plans and inputs the annual budget.
• Administers budget, tracks expenses/receivables, compares historical data and forecasts future needs.
• Maintains financial and budget records.
• Liaises with departments to ensure proper financial management within the President’s Office.
• Reconciles Visa statements.
• Prepares quarterly expense reports, or as requested.
• Monitors the President’s Travel and Professional Development Allowance account.
• Ensures travel claims are accurately prepared, submitted and tracked.
• Organizes and maintains accurate and accessible files, and records information relevant to the operation of the President’s Office.
• Monitors agreements and initiates payments for consultants hired for special projects.

Qualifications:

• Undergraduate degree preferred.
• At least three years of directly related experience in a, high-level academic office or an executive office in the private sector.
• Experience working in a highly confidential environment with the ability to act with tact and diplomacy.
• Experience in working closely with senior executives, including CEOs, political leaders and other high-level officials, and handling highly-sensitive and confidential matters is an asset.
• Scheduling experience required.
• Experience working in a post-secondary institution is an asset.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, are essential.
• Research, editing, reporting, and analytical skills are essential.
• Demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft 365 Applications including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
• Working knowledge of university structures and operations is an asset.
• Requires professionalism and openness to learn.
• Asks questions when needed and uses good judgment to make accurate decisions
• Advanced organizational and time-management skills to balance the demands of the President and Vice-Chancellor’s Office and short-term and long-term schedules
• Ability to work well and accurately under pressure with frequent interruptions
• Must be a team player, flexible, adaptable to change with the ability to identify, provide ideas for, and implement change
• Strong ability to calmly handle multiple priorities, issues and, occasionally, crises in a fast-paced environment. Abilit to manage time and workload effectively, and to mitigate conflict, are required
• Ability to work independently under minimum direction,
• Ability to analyse, prioritize and problem solve,
• Detail-oriented with a commitment to quality.

An equivalent combination of education, experience, skills, knowledge and abilities may be considered.

Condition(s) of Employment:

• Must be legally entitled to work in Canada.
• Must be willing to work evenings and weekends for special events/projects when required.

The salary range for this position will be from $70,783 to $89,666 annually.

Note: The work described in this posting will be conducted in-person.

The University of Winnipeg is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and recognizes that a diverse staff and faculty benefits and enriches the work, learning and research environments, and is essential to academic and institutional excellence. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals and encourage women, racialized persons, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQ+ persons to confidentially self-identify at time of application.

The University of Winnipeg is committed to ensuring employment opportunities are accessible for all applicants. If you require accommodation supports during the recruitment process, please contact human_resources@uwinnipeg.ca.

The personal information of applicants is collected under the authority of the University of Winnipeg Act and 36(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. All personal information collected via the recruitment process is used to assess the applicant’s suitability, eligibility, and qualifications for employment, and to otherwise support recruitment activities. This information will be provided to participating members of the recruitment process. Questions regarding the collection of your personal information may be directed to the Director, HR Services, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2E9 or human_resources@uwinnipeg.ca.