Portfolio Director, Finance and Economics

Portfolio Director, Finance and Economics

Department of Operations, Innovation, and Leadership

School of Business

Location: Residence in or relocation to the Maryland/Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia metro area is required. Hybrid with 2‑3 days per week on‑site at Adelphi, MD location. Additional days on‑site may be required on an occasional basis.

The Portfolio Director is a key academic and strategic leader within the Global Academic and Learning Enterprise (GALE) ponsible for setting the vision, direction, and priorities for a portfolio of learning experiences within a specific disciplinary and industry domain, the Portfolio Director ensures alignment to workforce trends, employer needs, and academic innovation. This role curates a full spectrum of learning experiences—including degrees, certificates, micro‑credentials, and workforce‑based programs—and works in collaboration with cross‑functional university teams to optimize learner outcomes, enhance access, and ensure career relevance.

Positioned at the intersection of education and industry, the Portfolio Director is charged with ensuring high‑quality, stackable, market‑responsive learning experiences that support UMGC’s commitment to serving diverse, global learners throughout their lifelong learning journey. Success in this role is defined by the ability to lead a high‑performing, data‑informed portfolio that delivers stackable, market‑relevant learning experiences; cultivates meaningful collaboration across academic and operational units;

and drives measurable improvements in learner access, engagement, and outcomes.

• Establishes and leads the intellectual and strategic direction and priorities for the Finance and Economics portfolio of learning experiences, maintaining strong awareness of and alignment to required and emergent employer/industry knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions.
• Identifies and ensures stackability of the skills‑based learning experiences in the portfolio, deliberately mapping pathways including non‑credit, micro‑credential, professional, and workforce development experiences through academic courses, certificates, and degrees.
• Develops relationships with industry and community partners, including employers, professional organizations, certification bodies, and other universities and community colleges to ensure curriculum alignment and emerging relevance.
• Remains connected to and conversant in national discussions about the post‑secondary education landscape, learner outcomes, workforce needs, and educational innovations specifically in the disciplines and industries germane to their portfolio of learning experiences.
• Identifies new technologies, theories, and approaches within the Finance and Economics fields/disciplines to enhance learner preparation for the workforce and the quality of the learning experience.
• Innovates and collaborates with university stakeholders on ways to validate and credential diverse forms of prior learning and contributes to new credentialing models.
• Works with Product Management to evolve the portfolio based on labor market and learner demand, ensuring stackable, scalable, and timely offerings.
• Collaborates with departments and offices across the global university to deliver a best‑in‑class learner experience, including surrounding the learner in support from both academic and non‑academic vantage points, enhancing learner engagement, and resolving learner issues and grievances, leading to higher levels of learner success.
• Working collaboratively across the university, optimizes the quality and performance of learning experiences through collaborative, data‑driven activities and initiatives to ensure a high‑quality portfolio of learning experiences, including measures of learner satisfaction, engagement, learning, and the learner experience as drivers of learner success, persistence, retention, and completion.
• Monitors and assesses portfolio performance through data and analytics, identifying opportunities for improvement and innovation.
• Uses market and audience research for Product Management to assess portfolio performance in terms of the national…