Director, Strategic Initiatives

Akam is a private equity-backed provider of property management and value-add services for condominiums, cooperatives, homeowners’ associations, and multifamily communities. Headquartered in New York City, the Company is a recognized leader in the property management industry and is executing an ambitious growth strategy that includes acquisitions, integrations, and operational transformation initiatives.

 The Director, Strategic Initiatives serves as a trusted strategic advisor to the Chief Executive Officer and executive leadership team, leading the development and execution of the Company's highest-priority enterprise initiatives. This leadership role is responsible for driving strategic transformation, accelerating growth initiatives, overseeing enterprise-wide execution, and ensuring alignment across business units. Working closely with senior executives, this individual will translate strategic priorities into actionable plans, establish governance and accountability, remove execution barriers, and drive measurable business outcomes. 

This position is based in New York City.

Position Responsibilities

• Serve as a strategic partner and advisor to the CEO, providing leadership in the development, prioritization, and execution of enterprise-wide strategic initiatives.
• Lead the Company's strategic priorities, ensuring alignment with corporate objectives, resource allocation, executive sponsorship, and measurable business outcomes.
• Establish governance, operating cadence that provide executive visibility into strategic initiatives, key milestones, risks, dependencies, and organizational impact.
• Drive enterprise-wide, cross-functional transformation initiatives from strategy development through implementation, ensuring timely execution and sustainable results.
• Partner with executive and functional leaders to identify strategic opportunities, solve complex business challenges, and accelerate organizational performance.
• Oversee CEO-sponsored initiatives and enterprise communications that require cross-functional coordination, executive alignment, and organizational change management.
• Identify operational improvement opportunities and lead initiatives that enhance organizational effectiveness, scalability, productivity, and employee experience.
• Provide strategic leadership for mergers, acquisitions, and post-close integration activities, including integration governance, synergy tracking, execution planning, and cross-functional coordination.
• Build strong partnerships across all business functions to foster alignment, accountability, and disciplined execution while effectively managing competing priorities.
• Anticipate enterprise risks, organizational dependencies, and execution challenges, proactively developing mitigation strategies and driving timely resolution.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement, operational excellence, accountability, and data-driven decision-making throughout the organization.
• Mentor and develop project and program management capabilities while strengthening enterprise execution disciplines across the organization.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Competencies

• Demonstrated strategic leadership with the ability to influence executive decision-making and drive enterprise-wide initiatives.
• Exceptional business acumen with strong analytical, financial, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Proven ability to lead highly complex, cross-functional programs involving multiple stakeholders, competing priorities, and executive visibility.
• Outstanding executive presence with exceptional communication, presentation, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong organizational leadership and change management capabilities, including influencing without direct authority.
• Experience building alignment across executive teams while driving accountability and execution.
• Demonstrated ability to thrive in high-growth, fast-paced, and evolving business environments.
• High degree of professionalism, sound judgment, discretion, and integrity.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word, with the ability to develop executive-quality analyses and presentations.
• Experience leveraging enterprise project portfolio management (PPM), PMO, and reporting tools to drive governance, transparency, and execution.

 Education and Experience Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required; MBA or other advanced degree strongly preferred.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in management consulting, corporate strategy, strategic operations, business transformation, investment banking, private equity portfolio operations, or a comparable strategic leadership environment.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise-wide strategic initiatives with measurable business impact.
• Experience partnering directly with C-suite executives and Boards of Directors on high-priority strategic initiatives.
• Experience leading mergers and acquisitions, post-merger integration, organizational transformation, or enterprise change initiatives.
• Experience designing and leading enterprise PMO or strategic portfolio management functions preferred.
• Experience within private equity-backed organizations, high-growth companies, or multi-business unit enterprises strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success leading initiatives involving acquisitions, integrations, international operations, or large-scale operational transformations.