Specialist, Board Governance

Position Summary

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Specialist, Board Governance provides confidential governance support and administration to the President and National Board of Directors. This role is responsible for handling confidential matters, liaising with internal and external groups, preparing reports and correspondence, ensuring coordination with the CBA’s senior team and staff, organizing meetings, and supporting the CEO, President, and the National Board of Directors.

The Specialist also acts as steward of the CBA's governance record, curating and organizing governance and background materials so that they are accurate, current, and readily accessible to the Board and Executive Team.

The Specialist, Board Governance requires a high level of professionalism, integrity, and discretion. The Specialist must be able to prioritize and multi-task, be flexible and collegial, and produce high-quality and accurate work, sometimes on short notice.

This individual is self-motivated with the ability to perform specialized governance and administrative duties with minimal supervision. Working closely with the CEO, the Specialist proactively assesses the needs of the Executive Team and Board and exercises independent judgment on governance matters, while carrying no supervisory or direct-report responsibilities.

66 Slater Street, Suite 1200, Ottawa, ON

The CBA delivers services in both of Canada’s official languages. Fluent bilingual skills, both written and oral, are mandatory for this position.

$88,000 per year

• Health & Dental
• STD/LTD
• EAP
• PD Funding
• Yearly Wellness Credit
• Pension

• Acts as a conduit between the office of the CEO and the Board of Directors, engaging actively on all matters relating to board governance affairs.
• Provides administrative support to the CEO, including daily review of and response to correspondence and requests; coordinates a bi-weekly Executive Meeting (President, Vice-President, CEO, Chief Advocacy Officer) including agenda building and the annotated agenda for the CEO.
• Provides comprehensive support to the Board of Directors and the Governance & Equity Committee, including creating and updating agendas, minutes, and distributing materials for all meetings of the Board, Leadership Forum, Executive Team, and individual meetings of the CBA President and Vice-President.
• Attends meetings and assumes responsibility for in-person or virtual meeting logistics, agenda preparation, minute-taking, and follow-up on action/bring-forward items.
• Maintains Board Terms of Reference, Board Policies and Procedures, and Board Orientation information; creates yearly governance meeting schedules for the Executive Team, Board of Directors, and Governance and Equity Committee.
• Develops and maintains a curated governance collection; including terms of reference, policies, minutes, resolutions, decisions, and background materials; applying consistent file naming, version control, classification, and retention conventions so that materials are complete, current, and discoverable.
• Responds to research and information requests from the Board and Executive Team, including retrieval of historical governance records and preparation of background reading packages, indexes, and finding aids on governance topics.
• Works with IT and internal knowledge and library resources to advance governance information management incrementally, recommending practical improvements to SharePoint structure, taxonomy, metadata, and search within existing tools and as systems evolve.
• Coordinates annual budget preparation (total of 9 budgets) and Board expense processes, including tracking and follow-up of payment.
• Coordinates the election processes for the Vice-President, Board members, and Committee/Subcommittee members, in coordination with Communications and Advocacy, providing all administrative support for these processes.
• Composes and/or proofreads confidential correspondence, agendas, meeting packages, letters, emails, and memoranda; develops presentations from draft notes; ensures all documents align with the CBA's brand and positioning.
• Coordinates travel and meeting arrangements (hotel, flights, meeting space, meals) for the Executive Team, Board of Directors, Board Committees, and Leadership Forum; coordinates the President's Dinner, dinner with the Supreme Court, Leadership Forum meetings, and other major events as assigned.
• Administers several inboxes (President, CBA Awards, CBA…