Athabasca University - Chief Governance Officer and General Counsel

Join Athabasca University (AU), a global leader in open, online, and distributed learning as their Chief Governance Officer and General Counsel. Serving more than 40,000 students in every province and territory in Canada and in over 90 countries around the world, AU is Canada’s only digital-first learning university. Operating within Cloud and Code, rather than bricks and mortar, AU stands out as a provider of high quality post-secondary education, employing over 1,000 team members.

As, Chief Governance Officer and General Counsel (“CGO&GC”), you will work proactively within the University community providing legal, compliance, secretariat and governance expertise to protect and represent the legal interests of the University and to maintain its operations within the limits of prescribed law and its bicameral governance environment. As guardian of the University’s integrity and reputation, overall you will be responsible for legal matters, legal counsel, advice and supervision to the University community.

This position supports complex governance, legal, strategic and policy issues that AU is pursuing with respect to complex governance, legal, strategy and policy issues. As such, you must demonstrate an ability to learn the organizational structure and processes of external constituencies to facilitate the achievement of the University’s goals.

You will work remotely on a permanent basis. At Athabasca University, “We work like our students learn.”

The successful candidate will be a seasoned and natural leader, both as a lawyer and as a senior manager, and will have established credibility in the marketplace. As well, they will already have the following core competencies:

• A law degree from an accredited institution, coupled with membership in good standing with the Law Society of Alberta (or the ability to qualify for membership in good standing with the Law Society of Alberta).
• A proven track record of senior-level leadership and management experience, preferably within a post-secondary institution or a public sector organization.
• Expertise in board governance, including experience working directly with boards.

This position permanently works remotely. In other words, “At AU, we work like our students learn.”

Intrigued individuals are invited to contact Rick Vogel, Founding Principal, either at rick@thevogelgroup.ca or at 780.665.4965 ext. 101 for more information and to receive a detailed position profile.