The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD, known as "The HARRIS CENTER," is seeking an experienced Executive Office Administrator to join our team. The Executive Office Administrator provides high-level administrative, operational, and strategic support to the Chief Executive Officer and the Executive Office. This position serves as a central coordination point for executive priorities, Board of Trustees activities, governance support, confidential communications, and organization-wide initiatives. The role requires a highly organized, proactive, and professional individual who can exercise discretion, sound judgment, and independent decision-making while managing complex schedules, competing priorities, sensitive information, and executive-level communications in a fast-paced public-sector healthcare environment.
Your role in action:
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Executive Support and Office Administration
- Manage the CEO’s calendar, meetings, appointments, and travel arrangements to ensure alignment with organizational priorities.
- Coordinate daily Executive Office operations, including meeting logistics, document preparation, follow-up tracking, and priority management.
- Prepare briefing materials, agendas, presentations, reports, talking points, and background documentation for meetings and public engagements.
- Serve as a primary point of contact for the Executive Office, exercising judgment in prioritizing requests, routing matters, and escalating issues appropriately.
- Maintain organized systems for executive files, records, correspondence, and confidential documents.
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Board and Governance Support
- Coordinate administrative activities related to Board of Trustees meetings, committee meetings, and special-called meetings.
- Assist with agenda preparation, meeting notices, board packet compilation, distribution of materials, and meeting logistics. Prepare, maintain, and organize official Board records, minutes, resolutions, action items, and governance-related documents.
- Support compliance with applicable governance procedures, organizational policies, and public-sector meeting requirements.
- Facilitate timely communication between the CEO, Board members, executive leadership, and internal stakeholders.
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Project Coordination and Strategic Initiatives
- Track executive-level projects, deliverables, action items, and deadlines to ensure timely completion.
- Coordinate cross-functional assignments on behalf of the Executive Office.
- Assist with special projects, organizational transitions, leadership initiatives, and CEO-directed priorities.
- Develop tracking tools, status updates, dashboards, and summaries to support executive decision making.
- Follow up with internal departments to ensure assigned deliverables are completed accurately and on schedule.
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Executive Communication and Stakeholder Engagement
- Draft, edit, and proofread executive correspondence, emails, memoranda, reports, presentations, and formal communications.
- Serve as a liaison between the Executive Office and internal departments, Board members, external agencies, government representatives, community partners, and vendors.
- Ensure communications are accurate, professional, timely, and aligned with organizational standards.
- Handle inquiries with professionalism, tact, and confidentiality.
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Confidentiality, Compliance, and Records Management
- Handle highly sensitive, confidential, and privileged information with discretion and integrity.
- Maintain records in accordance with organizational procedures, retention requirements, and applicable regulatory expectations.
- Ensure secure handling of executive, personnel, legal, governance, and business-sensitive information.
- Support Executive Office compliance with internal policies, administrative procedures, and reporting expectations.
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Conflict Resolution and Issue Management
- Serve as initial point of contact to de-escalate routine concerns.
- Exercise judgment in resolving or escalating issues.
- Maintain neutrality and professionalism.
- Facilitate communication and alignment between stakeholders.
- Track issues and ensure closure.
- Handle sensitive matters with discretion.
What qualifications will you need
Education:
Experience:
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Minimum of five to seven years of progressively responsible administrative or executive support experience. Prior experience supporting a CEO, Chief Officer, Board of Directors, Board of Trustees, or senior executive leadership team preferred.
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Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and SharePoint.
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Demonstrated experience preparing professional correspondence, meeting materials, reports, agendas, and executive-level documents.
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Ability to manage confidential information with discretion and sound judgment.
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Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in a public-sector, healthcare, behavioral health, nonprofit, governmental, or community based organization.
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Experience supporting board governance processes, including agenda preparation, board packet coordination, minutes, and action-item tracking.
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Experience coordinating executive projects, leadership events, strategic initiatives, or organizational transitions.
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Familiarity with public meeting requirements, records retention practices, or governmental administrative processes.
Required Knowledge Skills and Abilities:
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Strong executive presence and professionalism.
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Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
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Ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and confidential matters simultaneously.
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Strong organizational, planning, and follow-through skills.
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Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
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High attention to detail and accuracy.
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Strong judgment, discretion, and problem-solving ability.
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Ability to build effective working relationships with executive leaders, Board members, staff, external partners, and community stakeholders.
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Ability to anticipate needs, identify issues, and recommend practical solutions.
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Proficiency in preparing reports, presentations, meeting summaries, and professional correspondence.
About us:
The Harris Center is the state-designated Local Mental Health Authority and Local Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD) Authority serving Harris County, Texas. As the largest behavioral and developmental disability care center in Texas, The Harris Center provides care to over 90,000 people and has an annual budget of over $300 million.
As part of its mission to transform the lives of people with behavioral health and IDD needs in the third largest county in the United States, The Harris Center provides a full continuum of services at 80 different sites across Harris County. In addition, services are provided in more than 40 different languages as well as sign language in order to better serve what is one of the largest communities in the nation.
By utilizing the unique expertise of its more than 2,500 employees, The Harris Center is committed to meeting the behavioral health and IDD needs of Harris County residents and giving them hope to live to their fullest potential.
What else you should know:
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This posting is associated with position #1000
What we have to offer:
The Harris Center not only offers a competitive salary but also a suite of excellent benefits designed to enrich your life both professionally and personally. Imagine a future with a robust retirement plan complemented by our generous company matching – a testament to our investment in your long-term financial well-being. Experience the unique advantage of our prior service credit, accelerating your journey towards a more substantial Paid Time Off accrual, empowering you to enjoy well-deserved breaks.
Enjoy Cell Phone Discounts, exclusive entertainment deals through Tickets at Work, and a free Headspace subscription for mental wellness. Additionally, our Employee Assistance Program supports your overall well-being.
Take advantage of significant financial relief through student loan forgiveness as a valued member of The Harris Center team. As a qualifying entity, our employees are eligible for various student loan forgiveness programs, designed to alleviate the financial burdens associated with higher education.
Contributes to suicide care and prevention by embracing our values and applying a trauma-informed approach rooted in safety, trust, choice, collaboration, and empowerment.
