The Director of Presidential Operations & Protective Coordination is a key member of the Office of the President responsible for coordinating the operational readiness and effective execution of activities involving the President and Board of Trustees of the University. Reporting within the Office of the President, the Director leads operational planning for presidential activities, events, travel, meetings, ceremonies, and other official engagements. The Director serves as the Office of the President's principal liaison to the Department of Public Safety and other institutional partners, ensuring that applicable security, emergency preparedness, event, transportation, facilities, and access requirements are incorporated into presidential plans. Working collaboratively with University Events, Public Safety, executive leadership, Facilities, and other University and external partners, the Director coordinates presidential schedules, movements, logistics, VIP requirements, briefing materials, operational protocols, and contingency arrangements. The Director promotes clear roles, timely information sharing, coordinated decision-making, and effective execution while supporting the President's accessibility and engagement with the University community. The Director also oversees designated operational functions within the Office of the President and develops Office-specific procedures, protocols, guidelines, and continuity measures. The position does not direct Public Safety personnel or independently conduct threat or security assessments, investigate threats, establish incident command, or determine protective staffing or security response measures. These responsibilities remain with the Department of Public Safety and other designated University authorities.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Knowledge of:

Strong understanding of operational risk, event safety, emergency preparedness, and executive support. High degree of political and organizational awareness.

Skill:

Exceptional situational awareness and anticipatory planning skills. Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build trusted relationships across organizational boundaries. Exceptional discretion in handling confidential, sensitive, or security-related information.

Ability to:

Remain calm and exercise sound judgment in rapidly changing or high-pressure situations. Balance safety requirements with the President's need to remain accessible to students, employees, donors, community members, and other stakeholders. Work closely with the President's executive support staff to integrate operational and safety considerations into travel itineraries without unnecessarily limiting the President's schedule or engagement with stakeholders. Conduct or coordinate advance-site assessments for significant presidential appearances, including evaluation of entrances and exits, vehicle access, holding areas, meeting spaces, public access, crowd considerations, emergency evacuation options, and nearby emergency resources. work effectively and discreetly with hotels, transportation providers, event organizers, law enforcement, security personnel, governmental offices, and executive staff. Demonstrate a commitment to working in an organization that values and promotes humanism.

Required Qualifications Education:

Bachelor's degree in public administration, business administration, organizational leadership, emergency management, security management, criminal justice, or a related field.

Experience or Training:

Significant professional experience in executive operations, public safety, executive protection, emergency management, event security, or a closely related area. Demonstrated experience coordinating complex operations involving multiple internal and external stakeholders. Experience developing operational plans, policies, procedures, protocols, or emergency preparedness plans. Exceptional judgment, discretion, professionalism, and ability to maintain confidentiality. Strong written and verbal communication skills. Ability to work effectively with senior executives, trustees, dignitaries, elected officials, law enforcement/public safety personnel, faculty, staff, students, and external partners. Ability to work evenings, weekends, and nontraditional hours based upon presidential and University schedules. Ability to travel between University campuses and to other locations in support of presidential activities.

Special Requirements, Licenses, and Certifications:

This position requires frequent travel in support of the President and the Office of the President, including regular travel between the University's campuses and other locations where the President conducts official University business. Travel may include local, regional, interstate, and occasional international travel and may require overnight stays, extended days, weekends, holidays, early mornings, and evening hours. The incumbent must be able to respond to changes in the President's schedule and, when necessary, travel with limited advance notice. The position requires flexibility to support presidential activities outside of normal business hours and to remain available during designated presidential travel and major University events.

Preferred Qualifications Education:

Master's degree in a related field.

Experience or Training:

Experience supporting a university president, CEO, senior executive, elected official, dignitary, or other high-profile principal. Experience in executive protection planning, tactical operations, dignitary protection, emergency management, or event security. Experience working in higher education, healthcare, government, contracted security, or another complex institutional environment. Training or certification in emergency management, incident command, executive protection, threat assessment, or related disciplines. Essential Job Duties Key Responsibilities Presidential Advance Planning & Protective Coordination — 30% Lead operational advance planning for events, meetings, ceremonies, travel, appearances, and other official activities involving the President. Conduct operational advance planning for presidential engagements, including coordination of venue requirements, arrival and departure locations, access needs, transportation, staging areas, holding locations, executive movement, and other operational considerations. Coordinate with Public Safety and other responsible departments regarding security, emergency access, and life-safety requirements Identify and communicate potential logistical, scheduling, reputational, operational or safety-related concerns. Promptly refer security and threat-related concerns to the Department of Public Safety for assessment and direction. Maintain a high level of situational awareness before, during, and following presidential events and engagements, and communicate emerging concerns to the appropriate University officials. Coordinate with Public Safety, Emergency Management, University Events, Facilities, and other responsible departments to incorporate applicable contingency and emergency procedures into presidential plans. Establish scalable presidential operational planning protocols based on the size, visibility, location, audience, and complexity of an engagement, incorporating security requirements established by Public Safety as applicable. Support coordinated planning for sensitive, high-profile, controversial, or elevated-risk presidential engagements. Public Safety retains responsibility for security risk assessment and determination of appropriate protective measures. Confirm that appropriate communication and coordination channels are established among relevant University stakeholders during major presidential events. The Director participates in, but does not establish or direct, incident command structures. Maintain confidentiality regarding presidential schedules, movements, operational and protective plans, and other sensitive information. Key Responsibilities Presidential Events & Operational Coordination — 20% Serve as the primary Office of the President partner to University Events for presidential participation and operational coordination associated with presidential and other high-level University events. Participate in advance meetings, venue walkthroughs, operational briefings, and event readiness reviews in collaboration with University Events, Public Safety, Facilities, and other responsible departments. Collaborate with University Events, Public Safety, Facilities, and other responsible departments to incorporate presidential participation, access needs, transportation, executive movement, and applicable safety and emergency requirements into event plans. Public Safety retains responsibility for security operations, crowd management, access control, traffic control, and emergency response. Develop presidential participation and operational coordination plans with the Vice President, Chief of Staff for commencements, Board of Trustees activities, White Coat ceremonies, institutional celebrations, donor events, community engagements, executive meetings, and other major University functions, in alignment with event plans developed by University Events and security requirements established by Public Safety. Coordinate presidential arrival, staging, movement, seating, departure, and other operational requirements with University Events, Public Safety, and other event leadership. Coordinate presidential and VIP access needs, credentialing requirements, backstage and holding-area arrangements, and other controlled-environment needs with University Events and Public Safety as appropriate. Public Safety retains responsibility for security credentials, restricted areas, screening, protective perimeters, and other security access-control measures. Participate in collaborative post-event reviews to identify lessons learned and recommend improvements to presidential participation, operational coordination, and future event planning. Key Responsibilities Public Safety & External Agency Coordination — 15% Serve as the primary liaison between the Office of the President and the Department of Public Safety regarding presidential safety, protective planning, and related operational requirements. Coordinate with Public Safety leadership to communicate presidential schedules, event requirements, operational needs, and other information necessary to support Public Safety's security assessments, staffing decisions, emergency response planning, crowd management, traffic control, access control, and protective measures. Promote clear roles, responsibilities, communication, and accountability among the Office of the President, University Events, Public Safety, and other operational partners. • Support communication with local law enforcement, fire departments, emergency management agencies, venue security personnel, and other external safety partners, as requested by or coordinated through Public Safety. Public Safety remains the University's lead for operational coordination with external public safety agencies. Participate in threat, risk, or safety briefings relevant to presidential activities, consistent with University policy and applicable confidentiality requirements. The Director does not independently conduct threat assessments, investigate threats, or determine protective measures. Promptly escalate safety, security, or threat-related concerns involving the President or presidential activities to Public Safety and other appropriate University officials in accordance with established reporting protocols. Participate in collaborative after-action reviews following significant incidents, elevated-risk events, or other situations requiring enhanced protective planning, and support implementation of improvements within the Office of the President. Key Responsibilities Office of the President Operations — 20% Oversee designated operational functions within the Office of the President to ensure efficient, coordinated, and professional execution of presidential activities. Develop operational plans, workflows, protocols, and systems supporting the President and Office of the President. Support operational planning involving executive visitors, trustees, dignitaries, elected officials, donors, community leaders, and other VIP guests of the President. Work closely with Office of the President personnel and appropriate University partners to ensure operational requirements and applicable safety considerations are incorporated into presidential scheduling and planning. Coordinate transportation, presidential and VIP access needs, venue logistics, and other operational requirements associated with designated presidential activities, in collaboration with University Events, Public Safety, Facilities, and other responsible departments as appropriate. Identify opportunities to strengthen efficiency, preparedness, communication, and coordination within the Office of the President. Provide operational and continuity support on behalf of the Office of the President during institutional emergencies, major events, or other situations requiring heightened coordination, in alignment with established University emergency response structures and protocols. Key Responsibilities Policy, Protocol & Operational Readiness — 15% Develop, implement, maintain, and periodically review Office of the President policies, standard operating procedures, guidelines, protocols, and operational frameworks. Establish presidential event safety and operational planning standards that can be consistently applied across University locations and activities, in alignment with requirements established by responsible University departments. Develop written protocols addressing presidential travel, event planning, access needs, executive visitors, emergency communications, operational continuity, sensitive meetings, and other areas as assigned. Protocols affecting the responsibilities of other University departments will be developed collaboratively with the appropriate functional owners. Establish checklists, advance-planning templates, briefing documents, continuity procedures, and other tools supporting consistent operational execution. Emergency procedures will be developed in coordination with Public Safety, Emergency Management, and other responsible departments. Develop business continuity and operational readiness procedures for the Office of the President that align with broader University emergency management and continuity plans. Coordinate periodic exercises, tabletop discussions, or readiness reviews involving appropriate Office of the President personnel and institutional partners. Exercises involving security, emergency response, or incident management will be coordinated with the responsible University departments. Monitor relevant best practices in executive operations, protective coordination, event planning, operational readiness, and higher education administration and recommend appropriate improvements. Ensure Office of the President policies and protocols appropriately align with broader University policies and the responsibilities of Public Safety, Emergency Management, University Events, and other institutional functions. Posting Details Continued Work Schedule Monday through Friday; 8 AM to 5 PM. Some evenings and weeks may be required for special events. Working at WesternU We believe in making an impact in the lives of our employees, personally, and professionally. Every employee has different individual and/or family needs. We offer benefits that are both comprehensive and flexible to address your unique needs. We believe work-life harmony is positive and achievable. We offer competitive salaries, generous paid time off, insurance plans, reimbursements, and retirement benefits. Additionally, Our faculty, staff, and administrators are 100% focused on student success. Our University culture creates the context for a nurturing and supportive environment. Faculty, staff, and students can expect to make deep, personal relationships within the University community. As a Faculty, Staff, or Student at WesternU, you can focus on work that you love, be your authentic self, and lead to the future with innovation in health sciences. WesternU's core value of humanism encourages all to bring their whole self in all that they do. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect, equity, collaboration, and fun at all levels for all people! Expected Pay Scale Minimum $130,000.00 Annually Maximum $140,000.00 Annually Physical Demands Physical Demands Do the essential functions of this job require lifting? Yes If yes, list maximum weight and duration The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by any employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be available to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to use hands to operate a PC in the performance of job duties and talk or hear. The employee is regularly required to sit, and reach with hands and arms, and occasionally required to stand, walk, stoop, and smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close, distance, and peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to focus. Describe Work Environment The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be available to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Duties are normally performed in a typical office setting. The noise level in this setting is typically low to moderate. Posting Information Posting Number A01062 Posting Date 09/10/2026 Close Date 09/10/2027 Open Until Filled Yes Conditions of Employment - Background Check To secure employment, successful fulfillment of a background check, including a criminal records check, may be required. Western University of Health Sciences will extend a conditional offer of employment, subject to rescission if the background check unveils disqualifying information or if it is found that the candidate deliberately withheld or misrepresented information. Non-completion of the background check to satisfaction may impact the ongoing employment of a current Western University of Health Sciences employee who received a conditional offer for the position. Pay Transparency Act Pay Transparency Act- Western University of Health Sciences is required to provide a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role. This range considers various factors in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. It is not typical for an individual to be offered a salary at or near the top of the range for a position. Salary offers are determined based on final candidate qualifications and experience. The Expected Pay Scale is defined as the budgeted salary or hourly range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position. Placement within the Expected Pay Scale is determined by internal equity and relevant qualifications. Equal Opportunity Statement (EEO) It is the policy of Western University to provide equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment as required by law without regard to age, race, color, national origin ancestry, citizenship, ethnicity, creed, religion or religious creed, sex or gender (including gender identity), marital status, sexual orientation, disability (both physical and mental) including HIV and AIDS, medical condition (cancer and genetic characteristics), pregnancy (which includes childbirth, breastfeeding and medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding), age, genetic information, military and veteran status, or any other applicable protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all employment practices within WesternU including without limitation, hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoffs, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, and training. WesternU makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merits, and business needs at the time. Applicant Documents Required Documents Resume Optional Documents Cover Letter Letter of Recommendation #1 Letter of Recommendation #2 Letter of Recommendation #3 Additional Applicant Document Required License/Certification