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Kenan Institute 2024 Grand Challenge: Business Resilience
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Market-Based Solutions to Vital Economic Issues

Career Opportunities

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The Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise is the outreach arm of UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Founded in 1985 by visionary entrepreneur and philanthropist Frank Hawkins Kenan, the Institute is the research, outreach, and strategic planning arm of Kenan-Flagler Business School. The nonprofit institute and its affiliated centers convene leaders from the private sector, academic community, and government to build a greater understanding of how the business sector can work for the public good. The Institute’s mission is to develop and promote innovative, market-based solutions to vital economic issues. With the belief that private enterprise is the cornerstone of a prosperous and free society, the Institute fosters the entrepreneurial spirit to stimulate economic prosperity and improve the lives of people in North Carolina, across the country and around the world. 

Diversity, equity, and inclusion is core to the work of the Kenan Institute. We celebrate the multle dimensions that each individual shares and believe that diversity among our faculty and staff is paramount to ensuring the greatest possible impact of our work. We encourage all qualified individuals interested to apply to any open position. 

Director, External Affairs

Application Deadline: 03/21/2024

The Director of External Affairs is responsible for leading and creating the overall planning and implementing of a communications strategy to support the core mission of the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School. The primary goal of the External Affairs Director’s role will be to increase the visibility and impact of the Kenan Institute on the national level. The External Affairs Director will increase awareness of Institute work and will directly engage with high-level stakeholders in the private sector, academia and government. The position provides leadership and supervision to the Institute’s external affairs team overseeing organizational advancement efforts, including external affairs, communications, marketing, media relations, event management, and brand development. The External Affairs Director also proactively creates and refines the identity of the Institute through traditional and new media channels. A primary activity of this position will be to lead and coordinate, in collaboration with the institute’s operating units, the branding and dissemination of thought leadership for the Institute’s core initiatives to drive deeper engagement in the business, policy and academic sectors.

As the leader of a team of external affairs professionals, the Director of External Affairs will set broad team priorities, direct market research and trend analysis, develop a process for tracking metrics and key performance indicators, manage communications budgets and oversee the creation of public relations strategies. As a visible member of the institute’s leadership team, the External Affairs Director will also develop and cultivate cooperative relationships with business partners, journalists, public officials, government regulators and donors to develop and maintain the Institute’s brand of thought leadership while paving the way for future partnerships and opportunities.

The External Affairs Director will report to the Managing Director of the Kenan Institute. The External Affairs Director will also work collaboratively with the Kenan-Flagler’s Marketing/Communications teams and those of UNC Chapel Hill on media relations, social media, thought leadership about UNC Kenan-Flagler faculty’s research and disseminating content through School and university communication channels.

NCGrowth Analyst

Application Deadline: 04/01/2024

NCGrowth is a national center building an economy with opportunities for all to prosper. We provide technical assistance to businesses, governments, anchor institutions, and other organizations to create good jobs and new wealth in economically distressed communities. We produce applied research and develop innovative policies that promote equitable development. We host unique, cross-sector convenings and workshops to bring together diverse perspectives. With staff in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Washington, DC, our work and thought leadership range in scope from hyper-local to international. NCGrowth is an affiliated center of the UNC Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

Analysts work alongside other NCGrowth staff to provide technical assistance to community leaders, business owners, policymakers, and anchor institution leaders in order to create good jobs and new wealth in economically distressed communities. Since 2012, analysts have helped hundreds of NCGrowth clients.

Analysts are temporary employees and are preferably enrolled graduate students in Business Administration, Planning, Public Administration, Agriculture, Industrial Engineering, Information Sciences, and other disciplines. This is a remote position. Some travel may be required.