Leadership role
Chief Growth / Innovation Officer
Directs an organization's efforts to grow, develop new programs or services, or change how it works.
Reporting and scope
Reports to the Executive Director / CEO. Authority usually covers a portfolio of new initiatives, pilots and partnerships rather than day-to-day programs.
Core responsibilities
- Identifies new program models, markets or earned revenue lines
- Runs pilots and decides which to scale or stop
- Builds partnerships, affiliations and possible mergers
- Secures startup funding from foundations or impact investors
- Measures early results and reports them to the CEO and board
- Works with program leaders to move successful pilots into operations
How it differs
The Chief Strategy Officer owns the strategic plan and priorities; the Chief Growth / Innovation Officer builds and tests new offerings. The VP of Business Development focuses on contracts and revenue deals.
By organization size
The role is uncommon and found mainly in larger nonprofits and health systems. Smaller organizations assign growth work to the CEO or a program leader.
Filings from the last five years mapped to this role commonly report titles such as: Chief Impact Officer; Chief Experience Officer; Chief Growth Officer; Chief Lending Officer; Chief Business Officer; Chief Innovation Officer