ABOUT US

Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Since its founding in 1949, the Institute has been driving change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most critical challenges facing communities in the United States and around the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

To achieve our mission of a more free, just, and equitable society, we commit to working proactively to advance the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion across our myriad endeavors such as the recruitment, compensation, training, and advancement of staff. The best people-serving institutions make this commitment, and we seek to be a leader in the ways that we do so and learn from others. Visit our website to learn more about our commitment and recent actions taken toward building and nurturing a diverse and inclusive environment.

Public Programs

The Public Programs team at the Aspen Institute produces a number of events each year that are open to members of the general public. This position will support the Aspen Ideas Festival, to be held June 23-29, 2024 on the Aspen Institute’s campus in Aspen, CO.

The Aspen Ideas Festival is the nation’s premier public gathering for leaders from around the globe and across many disciplines to engage in deep and inquisitive discussions about ideas and issues that shape our lives and challenge our times. The 20th year of the annual Aspen Ideas Festival will return to the Aspen Institute's Campus and will foster attendees and speakers from a wide range of international sectors and industries to engage in meaningful dialogue. Each year, the Festival covers a wide range of timely and critical topic areas through panels, workshops, book clubs, debates, deep dives, and interviews.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

The Aspen Institute seeks a Speaker Coordinator within the Public Programs team to help support Aspen Ideas Festival speakers with logistics, travel, and lodging. The Speaker Coordinator will work closely with the speaker management team and other staff members to ensure a seamless process and experience for our event speakers and their teams.

Please note that this is a full-time short-term position from mid-January through late July 2025. The pay range is $30,000 - $35,000 for the duration, with the expectation of 40 hours a week.

This position reports to the Senior Program Associate who oversees the speaker team. In accordance with our Reimagining Work policy, the coordinator should be willing to be in-person (out of either the Aspen, Colorado or Washington D.C. office) with colleagues a minimum of 40% of the time while having the flexibility to work remotely for the balance.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Programmatic Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of approximately 75 speakers, overseeing the coordination of their travel and other logistics as assigned and in coordination with key Institute staff; and
• Support speaker reimbursements and vendor invoices as needed;

Event and Speaker Management Responsibilities:

• Administration of invitations to presenters on behalf of Aspen Ideas, management of responses, support speakers’ travel and accommodations;
• Solicit biographies and headshots of program presenters;
• Work with Communications staff on marketing, web content, social, and program materials related to speakers;
• Database management, including researching presenter’s work and background, contact information
• Drafting email correspondence, speaker invitations, session descriptions;
• Willingness to step into other event-related projects as they arise

Administrative Responsibilities:

• Program billing as appropriate.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO THRIVE

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent of 3 years of work experience in event planning;
• Exceptional organizational skills, self-motivated, detail-oriented and has an eye for the big picture;
• Thrives in optimizing processes, workflows, tracking information, and general improvement of event planning and management;
• Excellent written and oral communications skills;
• Superb customer service skills;
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite especially Word, Excel and other programs preferred such as Google Docs, Outlook, Cvent, ArtsVision;
• Intellectual curiosity a plus; and
• Candidates should be located in Aspen, CO or in Washington, DC with a preference for Aspen. Travel to Aspen in late June 2025 is required.
• Long hours and working on weekends is expected during the month of June as needed.

Additional information

The Aspen Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all District and federal laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or protected veteran or disabled status and will not be discriminated against.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation regarding the accessibility of our website, a modification or adjustment of the job application or interview process due to a disability, contact HRSupport@aspeninstitute.org or call (202) 736-5800.