The RSA (royal society of arts, manufactures and commerce) is an ambitious charity, committed to building a future that works for everyone by uniting people and ideas to resolve the challenges of our time.
Founded in 1754, the RSA has been at the forefront of significant social impact for more than 250 years. Its proven change process, thought leadership and research programmes, coupled with innovative and award-winning ideas platforms and a diverse global community of more than 30,000 Fellows, delivers solutions for lasting change.
Rooted in evidence-led thinking, the RSA acts with integrity and purpose, championing curiosity, creativity and courage to inspire better ways of thinking, acting and doing. Its proven, multi-disciplinary and collaborative change process, ‘The RSA Living Change Approach’, underpins all our work with practical tools and approaches to enable both us and our partners empower both ourselves and others to effectively realise lasting change.
This year saw the RSA launch its new brand identity — focused on ‘committing to impact’ — and shift to more focused long-term programmatic working, as part of its new corporate strategy.
With the upcoming departure of its Chief Executive Officer after 15 years, the RSA is now looking for an exceptional candidate as the new CEO to take forward these plans.
The new CEO will unlock what is needed to further shape a path to the future, bringing together the ideas, skills, expertise and energy of the RSA’s global community for the greatest impact and influence. This will mean harnessing all the organisation’s assets together as ‘one RSA’ including even closer engagement with its Fellows, being more global, increasing its visibility and impact, and deepening the RSA’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
The successful candidate will be a dynamic, creative and innovative leader. They will:
• be passionate about leading an organisation with a strong social purpose and global convening power. They must
• have proven successful leadership experience in a high-performing organisation.
• bring a strong sense of intellectual rigour combined with commercial nous and influencing skills.
• build on the strong global reputation of the RSA and, above all, lead by example and work hard and effectively for the greater good of society.
This is an outstanding opportunity for a great leader, utterly committed to making a real difference in finding solutions to the challenges facing society today and in the future.
Saxton Bampfylde Ltd is acting as an employment agency advisor to the RSA on this appointment. For further information about the role, including details about how to apply, please visit www.saxbam.com/appointments using reference BXMC. Alternatively, telephone +44 (0)20 7227 0880 (during office hours). Applications should be received by noon on 2nd February 2021.
The RSA and Saxton Bampfylde are committed to the identification, attraction, retention and development of diverse leadership talent. For more information please visit
https://www.saxbam.com/sector-expertise/saxbam-advisory/#diversity