Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension LLC is seeking a senior-level Strategic Planning Lead / Principal Consultant to serve as the single accountable lead and primary point of contact for the development of Arundel Community Development Services, Inc.’s (ACDS) five-year Strategic Plan.

This role is mission-critical to the success of the engagement. The selected individual will lead the end-to-end strategic planning process, including stakeholder engagement, mission and vision refinement, strategic priority development, performance metric definition, and executive-level facilitation with ACDS leadership and Board members.

The ideal candidate brings deep experience supporting nonprofit, quasi-governmental, or public-sector organizations, with demonstrated success translating complex stakeholder input into clear, actionable strategic direction. This role is best suited for a candidate who is equally strong in strategy formulation, facilitation, synthesis, and executive communication.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Strategic Planning Lead is responsible for owning and delivering all core outputs of the ACDS Strategic Plan effort. This includes designing and facilitating a targeted stakeholder engagement process (approximately 15 stakeholders plus Board engagement), reviewing and incorporating insights from the County’s recently completed 5-Year Consolidated Plan, and producing a concise, implementation-ready Strategic Plan and executive presentation.

The ideal candidate is:

• Highly organized and self-directed
• Comfortable operating in an ambiguous, strategy-driven environment
• Skilled at anticipating issues, structuring solutions, and managing competing priorities
• Experienced in facilitating discussions with senior leadership and Boards
• Able to translate qualitative input into measurable goals and performance metrics

This role requires strong judgment, discretion, and the ability to represent Ascension professionally as the face of the engagement with ACDS.

Tools and processes used include: Microsoft 365 (Word, PowerPoint, Teams), structured interview and facilitation guides, strategic planning frameworks, and performance measurement methodologies.

Position Day-to-Day / Period-of-Performance Activities

• Lead development of the overall strategic planning approach, workplan, and timeline
• Design and facilitate stakeholder interviews, working sessions, and Board discussions
• Review and synthesize existing planning documents, including the Anne Arundel County 5-Year Consolidated Plan
• Develop updated mission and vision statements aligned with organizational priorities and funding realities
• Define strategic goals and priorities for the five-year planning horizon
• Design and document performance metrics to measure organizational progress and success
• Author and synthesize all written deliverables, including the Strategic Plan and one-page executive summary
• Prepare and deliver executive-level presentations to ACDS Board and staff
• Serve as primary liaison with ACDS leadership, ensuring alignment, responsiveness, and quality
• Manage scope, schedule, and quality to ensure on-time and on-budget delivery