Facility Sales and Events Director

Job Description

The Facility Sales and Events Director leads the team responsible for managing over 300 rental and garden events in 12 different venues and gardens. The role is responsible for selling the Garden as a location for events, coordinating with the Garden’s designated 3rd party food and beverage provider, and planning logistics for Garden-wide events that require music, set-ups, and support staff scheduled throughout the year. This position necessitates an individual dedicated to customer service who thrives on collaboration in a forward-facing, on-site, hands-on environment with rental clients and Garden teams from inquiry to event execution. The Facility Sales and Events Director works with Garden leadership to balance mission priorities with revenue generation, utilizing the shared resources of our Garden. This position works collaboratively and cooperatively with all departments and the Garden’s exclusive caterer to ensure the highest quality of event planning and execution, resulting in an exceptional experience for all. The individual in this position will coach and develop a team of full- and part-time staff while actively engaging with contacts in the community to sell the event rental business. This position exemplifies our core value of hospitality to guests and staff to ensure the inclusivity of our Garden.

About Us

Founded in 1984, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is a nonprofit garden located in Richmond, Virginia’s Lakeside neighborhood. The Garden encompasses 82 acres, four lakes, 5,500 unique taxa of plants within 15 distinct outdoor gardens, 11 major buildings, including a conservatory and greenhouse, plus an 80-acre branch site, the Lewis Ginter Nature Reserve. Annually, Lewis Ginter engages over 17,000 students in innovative and exciting educational programs. This cadre of identified learners is just a fraction of the more than 400,000 annual visitors to the Garden. In recent years, the Garden has been honored with inclusion in several top ten lists for botanical gardens in North America.

Duties & Responsibilities

– Markets and sells the Garden’s hospitality services to potential clients; meets with clients to inform them of all services provided, and to establish catering requirements for the events.
– Develops and implements all Facility Rental programs, pricing structures, agreements, and terms and conditions, periodically reviewing to ensure they reflect the strategies and goals of the department
– Ensures all setups for facilities and outdoor areas are completed in a timely manner, accurately, translatable to appropriate departments, with needed detail for successful execution by the operations and catering
– Oversees the supervision of personnel, which includes work allocation, training, promotion, enforcement of internal procedures and controls, and problem resolution; evaluates performance and makes recommendations for personnel actions; motivates employees to achieve peak productivity and performance.
-Develops operating goals and objectives for the unit; implements and administers methods and procedures to enhance operations, as appropriate to the unit.
– Prepares monthly departmental revenue and sales reports, analyzes data, proactively sets strategies, and adjusts when needed to achieve revenue goals while balancing mission priorities.
– Collaborates with Garden departments to promote, schedule, set up, and execute events and rental programs.

Education and Experience

– Bachelors or Associates degree in a hospitality-related field.
– 7+ years demonstrated successful sales and production of events.
– 3 years of supervisory experience and proven ability to motivate team members.

Additional Information

Physical Demands / Working Conditions

– Ability to lift 20-30 pounds intermittently
– Must be able to walk quickly between all garden venues regularly.
– Ability to navigate the Gardens campus in most weather conditions.
– The position requires familiarity with all public areas of the 82-acre property
– Ability to work a flexible schedule, including nights and weekends, to support events.

Note: Duties described above, other duties, and physical demands have been identified as essential functions as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Application Instructions

To view a complete job description and apply, please visit the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s employment page at https://www.lewisginter.org/visit/about/employment.