Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
At Concordia Plans we care for those who serve by providing excellent retirement, healthcare, and benefit services. We currently have an opportunity for an Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Concordia Plans has a reputation for outstanding culture, most recently winning the 2025 Top Workplaces USA award. This honor goes to the country’s best employers with high performing people-first cultures. Our recent history of employment excellence also includes being awarded the 2023-2025 Top Workplaces USA award, the Top Workplaces 2021 - 2025 St. Louis Post-Dispatch awards and over the past five years additional special awards for Work-Life Flexibility, Compensation & Benefits, Purpose & Values, Employee Well-Being, Professional Development, Business Health Culture and Appreciation. Established more than 50 years ago providing service in 6,000 communities throughout the United States, we are mission focused professionals united to care for those caring for our community.
At Concordia Plans we are focused and flexible. Embracing the new normal, pioneering ways to continue to support work life balance in our family first culture. We offer competitive compensation with a benefit package, including a pension plan, 403(b), health insurance at no cost to the employee, and much more. With this exciting opportunity you can combine experience, talent, and passion as part of our team at Concordia Plans serving the workers of The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod.
General Summary
The Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Concordia Plans provides executive leadership and strategic direction for the organization’s product portfolio, marketing strategy, service delivery, customer experience and ministry and member growth and retention. Reporting to the President and CEO, the COO, is responsible for translating strategic priorities into effective operational execution while ensuring the sound stewardship of Concordia Plans’ assets, infrastructure, and resources in support of its ministry‑driven mission. The COO plays a critical role in advancing sustainability, service excellence, and regulatory compliance. As a key member of the Executive Leadership Team, the COO collaborates across departments, supports the Board of Directors, and represents Concordia Plans with internal and external stakeholders.
Essential Job Functions
- Provides executive leadership for product portfolio strategy, including design, delivery, performance, and lifecycle management of Concordia Plans’ product offerings.
- Leads service delivery and customer experience, ensuring consistent, high‑quality service that strengthens trust, responsiveness, and ministry and member satisfaction.
- Oversees marketing strategy and brand alignment, ensuring clear value propositions, effective go‑to‑market execution, and messaging that supports growth, retention, and mission impact.
- Drives ministry and member growth and retention through integrated product, marketing, ministry engagement, and service strategies.
- Translates strategic priorities into effective operational execution, ensuring systems, processes, and infrastructure support scalable, high-performing products and services.
- Ensures financial sustainability and stewardship of product and service strategies through sound planning, pricing, forecasting, and performance monitoring.
- Serves as a key partner to the President/CEO and Board of Directors, providing data-driven insights and executing Board-approved initiatives.
- Builds and leads high-performing teams, fostering cross-functional collaboration, accountability, and mission centered stewardship.
Education and Experience
- Master’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Business Administration, Marketing, Operations Management, or related field preferred.
- Ten (10) or more years of progressive executive leadership experience with demonstrated responsibility for product strategy, service delivery, and operational execution.
- Proven success leading complex, member or customer facing organization preferably in employee benefits, financial services, or insurance.
- Demonstrated ability to drive growth, retention, operational execution and financial stability, while leading high performing teams.
- Experience partnering with executive leadership teams, boards of directors, key external stakeholders
- Experience working in a values-based, mission-driven organization; familiarity with LCMS structure and ministries, preferred.
- Member of LCMS preferred.
Competencies
- Active Listening: Able to receive and comprehend speech without judgment in an attentive manner, evaluate and respectfully respond to another person in a way that demonstrates respect and compassion.
- Analytical Insight: Deriving meaningful information and conclusions from analyzing data, revealing patterns, trends and relationships that can inform decision making.
- Build Strong Teams: Builds a culture aligned around shared goals and purpose. Intentionally coach and develop others, nurture networks, and attract strong talent.
- Change Agent: Is energized by change and welcomes new opportunities, quickly learns and adapts to change, personal maturity to evaluate and manage uncertainty and stress effectively. Ability to blend creativity and improvisational thinking with sensitivity to tradition and history.
- Collaboration: Builds authentic relationships and harnesses the energy of others. Adapts interpersonal style and models productive dialogue and debate.
- Communication: Communicates clearly and concisely across all channels, reflecting Concordia Plans values and fostering mutual understanding in all internal and external communications.
- Consultative Approach: Listens actively, responding empathetically and constructively to promote trust and clarity, identifying underlying needs and engaging in solution development through open dialogue and strategic questioning.
- Data Analysis: Ability to securely collect, maintain, research, evaluate, and summarize data for utilization in various business practices, data analysis, and reporting. Effectively utilizing relevant information to develop realistic solutions/recommendations.
- Influence Others: Is a positive influence across and outside the organization. Paints a compelling picture and gains commitment for forward momentum.
- Model Resilience: Leads with optimism and composure, setting the tone for others. Is self-aware, humble, and open to alternatives when challenged.
- Outcomes-Oriented: Brings a bias for action and achieves meaningful, timely, and measurable results. Lives continuous improvement and operational excellence.
- Problem-Solving: Uses rigorous logic, systematic methods, and analysis to solve difficult problems, able to exercise discretion and make decisions to resolve issues and questions, anticipates the implications and consequences of situations and takes appropriate action, is excellent at objective analysis, and asks questions, seeks answers and engages others in analyzing and developing solutions.
- Strategic Thinking: Demonstrates sound judgment, discernment, and church/business acumen. Encourages new thinking and makes future-focused decisions.
- Trustworthy: Acts with integrity, being honest and credible, reliable, having positive intent, able to present the unvarnished truth appropriately and helpfully; keeping confidences; admitting mistakes; doesn’t misrepresent him/herself for personal gain.
