Chief Legal and Risk Officer

Work Location: Remote

Position Overview

The Power Forward Communities (PFC) organization and coalition seeks a visionary and strategic leader to serve as its to serve as its Chief Legal and Risk Officer (CLRO). Please note: Although this role is listed on Rewiring America's website for visibility purposes, the position will directly support the PFC team.

PFC is a coalition of trusted organizations — Enterprise Community Partners, United Way Worldwide, Habitat for Humanity International, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and Rewiring America — that have collectively spent decades building stronger, healthier, affordable homes with a focus on low-income communities.

These five organizations have come together to pioneer sustainable decarbonization solutions for single- and multi-family homes in low-income disadvantaged communities and to drive a market transformation that will reduce energy costs and increase health and safety benefits in communities nationwide. PFC has been selected by the Environment Protection Agency to receive a $2 billion grant under the National Clean Investment Fund competition to drive this market transformation.

The Chief Legal and Risk Officer (CLRO) is an organization- and coalition-wide executive position that reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer and liaises with the Board of Directors and the Board’s Risk and Audit Committee as well as Nomination and Governance Committee. The PFC CLRO leads PFC’s legal, risk management, and compliance functions, serving as PFC’s general counsel and managing all legal and regulatory matters; developing and implementing risk management and mitigation efforts; overseeing regulatory conditions and compliance behaviors; and facilitating the identification, assessment, and monitoring and reporting of risks that may impact PFC’s strategic objectives.

Key Responsibilities

The PFC Chief Legal and Risk Officer (CLRO) will be the cornerstone of legal and risk management across PFC and the coalition with the following key responsibilities:

• Serving as legal advisor and strategic partner to the Chief Executive Officer, the Board of Directors, and other senior leaders to provide analysis, counsel, and guidance in areas of significant organization- and coalition-wide impact and in the formulation of strategic and operating plans and decisions;
• Managing all legal work for the PFC organization, including, but not limited to, corporate governance, borrowing facilities, corporate finance, grants and contracts, corporation transactions, policy matters, Congressional inquiries and investigations, intellectual property/branding, cybersecurity, compliance, litigation, and employee matters;
• Managing risk management strategies and operations, including compliance with corporate policies, audits and regulatory requirements, as well as security-related issues (including IT security and data breaches, internal auditing, financial auditing, insurance, fraud prevention, business continuity, and similar corporate internal investigations);
• Monitoring and advising on emerging trends in the evolving areas of legal, regulatory, policy, employment, intellectual property, cyber security, data privacy, housing finance, and building decarbonization;
• Leading risk management for the organization including overall monitoring and reporting of the organization-risk program;
• Work collaboratively with coalition member counsel to ensure the successful fulfillment of the NCIF grant in compliance with the grant terms;
• Ensuring compliance and understanding with applicable federal and state policies and regulations, including but not limited to those from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Labor, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Treasury Department, and IRS;
• Developing and maintaining appropriate procedures and processes to select, manage, and coordinate all outside counsel, assuring the delivery of high-quality, cost-effective, timely legal services and support;
• Collaborating with business leads and the VP of Human Resources on all organizational employment matters throughout the employee life-cycle, including counsel for self-insured benefits programs, managing personal-identifiable information, managing internal employee related investigations, litigation and employment matters, such as workers’ compensation, and other related compliance and regulatory matters;
• Working with the VP of Human Resources on the development and implementation of the enterprise-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives;
• Collaborating with the Chief Operating Officer to guide, organize, and centralize the management of all contracts, third-party vendors, and procurement;
• Serving as corporate secretary to the Board of Directors, and providing leadership for board governance, board committees, and associated meetings;
• Providing assurance that all organization’s governance, federal tax exemption, state charitable registrations, business license filings, and documentation are maintained and managed;
• Lead internal legal teams and provide sound coordination with outsourced legal counsel as needed and seek input from business leads as to the quality, timeliness, and responsiveness of legal support; and,
• Cultivating a culture of integrity, compliance, and risk awareness across the organization and coalition while fostering the growth and success of the business and the mission.