EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE
VICE-PRESDIENT, CORPORATE SERVICES
General:
Reporting to the Vice-President, Corporate Services, the Executive Assistant is responsible
for providing a high level of administrative support to the Vice-President and to the
Corporate Service team. The individual must be highly motivated, is a quick thinker, has
the ability to complete tasks and projects quickly, with little or no guidance, and react with
appropriate urgency to situations that require a quick turnaround. S/he will need to be
dynamic, high energy, and possess excellent judgment. This individual will also need to be
very flexible and expect to work extended work hours to accommodate the senior leaders
s/he supports. This Executive Assistant will, at times, be handling high-level confidential
information so will be expected to maintain strict confidentiality and exhibit discretion and
professionalism in all activities, always reflecting the values and culture of the
organization.
S/he will need to have a keen attention to detail, the ability to prioritize workload, be well
organized and multi-task in a smart and timely fashion. The individual must also
demonstrate excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written, in
both English and French. The person should also have significant experience and capability
supporting high profile individuals and operating in a fast-paced environment, including
the finesse of being the gateway of access to the Vice-President. The role requires detailed
management of all aspects of senior level meeting planning and travel. This Executive
Assistant should be able to work independently and enjoy the administrative challenges of
supporting senior leaders within a pan-Canadian organization and be able to achieve crossfunctional coordination across the team and organization.
Characteristic Responsibilities:
Technical/Specialized or Program
 Organize every aspect of the business life of the Vice-President, including but not
limited to maintaining multi-layered calendars with personal appointments, work
appointments, birthdays/anniversaries, project deadlines, etc.
 Take minutes at a very fast pace, for email, letters, proposals, reviews during various
hours of the day and evening. Must have flexibility with work hours, and on-call with
email monitoring during the evenings and weekends.
 Draft correspondence and other materials for review/signature by the Vice-President.
 Develop documents and coordinate action items and processes related to follow up
from CFHI management activities such as team meetings, Senior Management
Committee (SMC) meetings, and the President’s Executive Committee (PEC)
meetings.
 Follow-up with internal workflow, inclusive of SMC items, to ensure completion of all
requests are done in a timely manner.
Executive Assistant
This position reports to the Vice-President, Corporate Services.
Last revised: May 10, 2017
Page 1
 Proofread and edit correspondence, speaking notes and other documentation for the
Vice-President to ensure that they reflect the organization’s views and style.
 Prepare executive summaries of reports as required for the Vice-President or for other
senior executives.
 Log credit card charges regularly to maintain the Vice-President’s expenditure report
and keep a continuously updated expense report.
 Schedule internal and external meetings, conference attendance, and travel
arrangements, both domestically and international, prepare presentations and speeches
and screen incoming calls, emails and correspondence and respond independently
when possible.
 Set up, manage and monitor multi-party video or teleconference calls, meetings, etc.
 Support workshop planning as required.
 Manage incoming calls and correspondence (mostly electronic) from high profile
external stakeholders, partners, staff, etc. and act as liaison to maintain these
relationships.
 Manage effectively all aspects related to interfacing with information technology on
technology issues, including but not limited to, technologies related to computers, iPads
and cell phones.
 Anticipate the Vice-President’s needs and proactively bring together resources to fulfill
those needs.
 Manage constantly shifting priorities with flexibility and accuracy.
 Identify and resolve problems in a timely manner by gathering and analyzing related
information.
 Analyze and distill various sets of data, including but not limited to, financial,
operational, statistical and trend data through MS Excel and other means and advise
the Vice-President on trends s/he needs to investigate.
 Identify possible external stakeholders to meet with CFHI; prepare biographies on key
contacts and coordinate external stakeholder and industry contact visits to CFHI as
needed.
 Develop and maintain relationships with high profile external stakeholders and/or
suppliers and vendors on behalf of the Vice-President.
 Ensure appropriate PEC and/or SMC representation is provided at functions,
conferences and other events which the Vice-President is unable to attend.
 Provide administrative support to the annual operational and budget planning and
forecasting process including midyear and year-end performance reports.
 Is comfortable with proactively learning new skills and concepts.
 Maintain expertise on relevant processes and activities to identify best practices in
operational and budget planning.
 Act as a resource to internal and external contacts regarding CFHI’s policies and
procedures.
 Perform other duties as assigned by the Vice-President.
Executive Assistant
This position reports to the Vice-President, Corporate Services.
Last revised: May 10, 2017
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Operational
 Maintain calendars and track time and attendance of Corporate Services staff team on
behalf of the Vice-President and identify issues or concerns to the Vice-President.
 Coordinate the Vice-President’s external meetings inclusive of travel, necessary
documentation/meeting materials, follow up of action items, and reconciliation of
accounts.
 Receive telephone calls, resolve routine enquiries including email requests for
information, and forward requests on behalf of the Vice-President for action if required;
develop relationships with all internal and external contacts.
 Manage and maintain all contacts for the Vice-President using the organization’s
contact relationship management system(s).
 Make recommendations for improvement as a productive member of the team.
External Representation
 The Executive Assistant has a wide range of high level external contacts, including
senior officials in government, deputy ministers, other senior stakeholders, and a wide
range of supplier and vendor contacts. The nature of the relationship is mainly
providing and collecting information, coordinating meetings and keeping the VicePresident informed of any issues, and concerns that may arise.
 The Executive Assistant handles confidential information that would have immediate
negative impact on CFHI’s performance and reputation if shared beyond its intended
audience.
Strategic Advice/Recommendations
 The Executive Assistant is not required to provide advice/recommendations on external
strategic issues, but is expected to be a conduit for staff concerns on internal issues.
 Establish and maintain effective working relationships will all CFHI staff, external
stakeholders and general public.
Skill:
 Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree required, ideally in Business
Administration, or in a relevant field, or a combination of experience and education.
 Bilingual in French and English is mandatory (English and French communications at
Advanced “C” level).
 Minimum of five (5) years of executive assistant experience in a fast-paced
environment; previous senior level executive level support required, ideally for more
than one person.
 High degree of professionalism to handle sensitive and confidential information as well
as internal and external domestic and international telephone calls.
 Advanced and highly proficient computer skills needed with Windows, MS Word,
Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, SharePoint, Skype for Business and advanced database
skills.
 Must be able to provide quick turnaround of unanticipated requests.
Executive Assistant
This position reports to the Vice-President, Corporate Services.
Last revised: May 10, 2017
Page 3
 Must be able to prioritize and organize workflow to ensure effectiveness and efficiency;
manage tight deadlines.
 Must have ability to learn new computer systems quickly and embrace new
technologies.
 Exceptional listening skills.
 Excellent oral and written communications skills with a high degree of accuracy and
attention to detail needed.
 Strong interpersonal skills exercising discretion and diplomacy in working with others
including all levels of management.
 Strong business acumen and judgment necessary.
 Ability to maintain performance in high pressure situations.
Effort:
 Mental fatigue resulting from regularly juggling multiple competing priorities with
regular unexpected and important deadlines.
 Almost all working hours spent confined to a work station performing light physical
activity including sitting, keyboarding and reading/looking at a computer screen.
Working Conditions:
 Limited travel.
 Is regularly required to extend hours of work to meet work demands including peak
periods when individual is required to work evenings or weekends, sometimes to
accommodate the Vice-President’s schedule.
 Is regularly interrupted.
 Must be available outside working hours to address concerns, issues or other work
related tasks.
Executive Assistant
This position reports to the Vice-President, Corporate Services.
Last revised: May 10, 2017
Page 4