Senior Manager, Chapter Operations (Chicago)
Job Title: Senior Manager, Chapter Operations Department: Experiences Reports To: Director, Product Operations - Experiences FLSA Status: Exempt Location: Chicago, Illinois (Hybrid – 3 Days/Week in Office) Company Overview: Founded in 1991, Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) is the world’s largest SAP user group, serving 2,300-plus businesses via company-wide memberships. ASUG is a Chicago-based organization that helps people and organizations get the most value from their investments in SAP technologies. We believe in the power of community and offer our members a wide range of in-person experiences, insightful webcasts, and member-told stories with endless opportunities for networking, education, and research. You’ll feel right at home in our community. Our Values: Inspire Trust: We build trust through transparency, integrity, and respect. Join us to be part of a team that values honesty and ethical behavior. Lead the Charge: We are pioneers in our field, always striving for innovation and excellence. Be a part of a forward-thinking organization that encourages leadership at all levels. Join Together: Collaboration is at the heart of what we do. Work with a diverse group of professionals who support and uplift each other. Work Fearlessly: We embrace challenges and are not afraid to take risks. If you are bold and ambitious, you will thrive here. Celebrate Customers: Our members are our top priority. Help us create exceptional experiences and celebrate their successes. Job Summary: The Senior Manager, Chapter Operations is responsible for leading the team and operational delivery of ASUG’s Chapter program, a high-volume portfolio supporting 39 chapters and more than 100 in-person one-day meetings annually across North America. This is both a people-leadership and event-operations leadership role. The Senior Manager leads a team of five or more Chapter Operations professionals and is accountable for establishing clear priorities, providing direction, developing staff, managing performance, balancing workloads, and ensuring the team consistently delivers against established expectations and deadlines. The Senior Manager provides operational leadership across the full Chapter meeting lifecycle, including annual planning, venue sourcing and contracting, budgets and forecasting, volunteer engagement, registration, sponsor fulfillment, meeting logistics, onsite execution, post-event reporting, and continuous process improvement. While individual team members manage assigned Chapter portfolios, the Senior Manager maintains visibility across the entire portfolio and is accountable for overall operational performance, consistency, quality, and risk management. Success in this position requires an experienced leader who can operate effectively in a fast-paced, high-volume environment; make timely and informed decisions; provide clear direction when priorities compete; and build productive relationships with staff, volunteers, sponsors, vendors, and cross-functional stakeholders. Key Responsibilities: Team leadership and performance Lead, coach, develop, and manage a team of five or more Chapter Operations professionals, setting clear expectations for performance, accountability, communication, customer service, and operational excellence. Provide timely direction and decision-making when priorities compete, circumstances change, or team members require organizational clarity. Monitor team workload and capacity, proactively balancing priorities and resources across concurrent meetings and peak planning periods. Lead the team effectively through organizational, process, technology, and role changes while maintaining a supportive and accountable work environment. Chapter and event operations Provide operational leadership for ASUG's portfolio of 39 Chapters and 100 annual one-day Chapter meetings, ensuring consistent execution, service standards, and meeting readiness across the program. Oversee the end-to-end Chapter meeting lifecycle, including annual planning, venue sourcing and RFPs, contract negotiation, budgets, registration, F&B, AV, room sets, signage, sponsor fulfillment, volunteer coordination, onsite operations, and post-event closeout. Establish and maintain annual planning calendars, operating timelines, milestones, and standards; identify at-risk meetings early and drive corrective action. Serve as the senior operational escalation point for venue, vendor, volunteer, sponsor, registration, budget, staffing, and meeting-execution issues. Volunteer, stakeholder and cross-functional leadership Build and maintain productive relationships with Chapter volunteers, sponsors, partners, venues, vendors, and internal stakeholders while clearly communicating expectations, roles, timelines, and operating requirements. Serve as a leadership escalation point for complex or sensitive volunteer and stakeholder matters, balancing service, empathy, organizational priorities, and operational requirements. Serve as the primary operational leader for Chapters across Content, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Technology, Community, and Product Operations. Translate organizational and Chapter strategy into clear operational plans, responsibilities, timelines, and deliverables for the Chapter Operations team. Resolve cross-functional dependencies, competing priorities, or unclear direction that could put Chapter meetings or team performance at risk. Represent Chapter Operations in cross-functional planning and leadership discussions, providing concise updates on progress, risks, resource needs, and decisions required. Operational management and continuous improvement Establish and maintain systems for tracking Chapter meetings, milestones, deadlines, risks, decisions, and accountability across the portfolio. Ensure consistent use and accuracy of Monday.com, Cvent, shared documentation, and other ASUG operational systems. Develop and monitor operational KPIs and use data to identify performance gaps, resource needs, recurring issues, and improvement opportunities. Provide regular, data-driven reporting to the Director and other stakeholders on Chapter performance, readiness, workload, risks, and required decisions. Budget and financial management Oversee Chapter operating budgets, forecasts, invoices, and reconciliations in partnership with the Director, Finance, and Chapter Operations team. Participate in annual budget development and financial planning; ensure team members maintain accurate and timely financial documentation. Identify budget variances and financial risks early, recommend corrective action, and serve as a primary operational liaison between Chapter Operations and Finance. Key Performance Indicators Operational excellence: Maintain at least 90% on-time completion of established critical milestones across the Chapter meeting portfolio, with risks proactively identified, escalated, and resolved. Team leadership: Maintain consistent performance management and development practices for 100% of direct reports, including established goals, regular coaching, quarterly performance discussions, and documented follow-through on identified performance or capacity concerns. Qualifications: 8–10 years of progressive professional experience in meetings, events, association operations, chapter operations, hospitality, or a related field. Demonstrated experience directly managing and developing a team of at least five employees, including coaching, performance management, workload management, goal setting, and professional development. Significant hands-on experience managing a high volume of meetings and events annually, with multiple events in different stages of planning at the same time. Strong understanding of end-to-end event operations, including venue sourcing, RFPs, contract negotiation, budgets, registration, food and beverage, audiovisual requirements, room sets, vendors, sponsors, onsite execution, and post-event reconciliation. Proven ability to identify operational risks, resolve problems independently, and appropriately escalate issues requiring senior leadership involvement. Exceptional interpersonal and relationship-management skills, including demonstrated success working with employees, volunteers, sponsors, vendors, senior leaders, and cross-functional stakeholders. Experience managing or supporting volunteer-led programs or membership organizations strongly preferred. Strong financial acumen with experience developing, managing, forecasting, and reconciling event or program budgets. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate expectations, difficult messages, recommendations, and operational information clearly. Strong project and portfolio management skills with demonstrated ability to manage numerous concurrent deadlines and dependencies. Experience managing operating processes, reporting systems, KPIs, and continuous improvement initiatives. Profi
