Executive Director - Baptist Healthplex

About the role

The Baptist Healthplex at Mississippi Christian University is seeking an Executive Director to provide strategic leadership for a large, multidisciplinary health and wellness organization serving the university community and the broader public. The Healthplex operates a 70,000-square-foot facility with fitness, aquatics, group exercise, Child Watch, personal training and other wellness resources. It has about 11 full-time and 70-75 part-time employees, and recurring membership revenue is its main economic engine. The incoming leader inherits an experienced leadership team and a strong membership base, and will build on recent changes in pricing, membership technology, financial strategy, leadership development and operational planning.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the organization and its directors (membership, fitness/programming, marketing/events, facilities, aquatics) and maintain relationships with the Board, university leadership, vendors, controllers, partners, members and employees.
• Strengthen financial sustainability through disciplined budgeting, membership-revenue oversight, collection performance, reserve growth, debt management and capital planning.
• Establish consistent reporting on membership, billed and collected revenue, failed payments, joins and cancellations after the move to club automation.
• Develop the director team into organization-wide leaders who carry the mission and culture.
• Document critical processes, cross-train leaders and set up backup ownership to reduce dependence on individual knowledge.
• Maintain a documented, predictive approach to facility management, tracking repairs, costs, preventive maintenance, equipment condition and 1-, 5- and 10-year capital needs.
• Keep strong, transparent relationships with the university and the Board, clarifying decision rights, communication expectations and financial obligations.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree required; relevant master's degree preferred.
• Progressive leadership experience with responsibility for people and organizational performance.
• Demonstrated budgeting and financial-management capability.
• Experience leading managers or department heads and developing future leaders.
• Experience with facilities, membership/customer operations or complex service delivery strongly valued.
• Preferred backgrounds include health and wellness, recreation, healthcare administration, hospitality, higher education, membership organizations, nonprofit leadership or business operations.

Required skills

• Financial literacy: budgets, revenue, cash flow, debt, reserves and capital decisions.
• Systems thinking: improving processes without adding bureaucracy.
• Strong written and verbal communication, judgment, integrity and relationship building.