Regional Director, Latin America

Millar Cameron are delighted to be supporting The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) with the recruitment of a Regional Director, Latin America.

Location Latin America (Colombia, Mexico, or Panama preferred; other locations considered) Ref A003216

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a global movement uniting forests, people, and markets in the fight against deforestation and climate change. Since 1993, they’ve driven transformative change across 160 million hectares of certified forests worldwide.

About the role

FSC seeks an exceptional senior leader as Regional Director, Latin America - a pivotal role blending entrepreneurial vision, operational excellence, and collaborative leadership to drive forest stewardship impact across one of the world's most vital regions.

What Makes This Role Unique

This is not a technical or traditional management position. You'll operate with significant autonomy as FSC's primary representative for Latin America, serving on FSC International's Global Leadership Team while shaping both regional strategy and global direction.

You’ll lead through influence and empowerment in a highly decentralized environment where implementation authority sits with independent Network Partners. Success requires building trust, forging alliances, and inspiring action—not commanding it.

The role demands an entrepreneurial general manager who can identify opportunities, mobilize resources, build partnerships, and ensure operational excellence across multiple countries while maintaining strategic focus and financial discipline.

The Challenge

You’ll navigate diverse stakeholder perspectives, balance competing priorities, and build consensus across an engaged membership base. You'll manage complex operations while fostering a culture of empowerment. You'll represent regional interests globally and global priorities regionally.

This requires exceptional emotional intelligence, diplomatic skill, strong operational capability, and deep cultural connection to Latin America. You must be purpose-led and motivational—inspiring through shared commitment rather than authority.

Key dimensions of the role

As a member of FSC International’s Global Leadership Team, you’ll actively influence FSC’s worldwide strategy while adapting it for Latin American contexts. You’ll identify transformational partnerships, work collaboratively with FSC International functional teams (Ecosystem Services, Policy, Market Development), represent FSC at high-level events, and foster knowledge sharing across the global network. Regular international travel is expected.

Lead Through Networks & Relationships

You’ll strengthen FSC’s Network Partner model by empowering eight autonomous organizations in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras through facilitation, capacity-building, and trust-based relationships. You’ll navigate political dynamics with cultural authenticity, serve as a unifying force reinforcing “One FSC,” and bridge FSC International with regional stakeholders.

Drive Operational Excellence

You’ll provide general management oversight ensuring the region functions as a high-performing, financially sustainable operation. This includes developing and executing business plans and budgets (approximately USD 1 million), driving performance across distributed teams, overseeing recruitment and team development, ensuring compliance with FSC policies, establishing performance indicators, optimizing resource allocation, and building scalable operational infrastructure.

Develop Markets & Partnerships

You’ll sharpen FSC’s value proposition to commercial stakeholders, drive certification uptake among key private-sector actors, identify and address market barriers with policymakers, and strengthen FSC’s market relevance across the region.

Build Financial Sustainability

You’ll work toward increased financial independence, securing strategic investment to scale impact over 2-3 years, supporting development of FSC products and services, and identifying capacity gaps and structural constraints.

Engage Governments & Multilaterals

You’ll conduct targeted outreach to governmental institutions and international organizations, promoting recognition and adoption of FSC policies in forest management, procurement, and trade.

Skills and experience

Your Background

You bring 15-20+ years of senior leadership in complex, multi-country or multi-stakeholder environments. You've led with autonomy and entrepreneurial initiative, managed operations and budgets with accountability for results, and built strong track records across Latin America with deep cultural fluency and regional credibility. Heritage or lived experience in the region is highly valued.

You've demonstrated success leading through influence rather than authority in matrix or networked structures, collaborating across functions and geographies, engaging governments, donors, civil society, and private sector, and operating in politically sensitive, member-driven environments. You've led organizational change and contributed to senior leadership teams.

You're fluent in Spanish and English (essential) and ideally Portuguese.

Purpose-Driven: You inspire through genuine commitment to FSC's mission rather than positional authority. You energize stakeholders around common goals and maintain momentum through challenges.

Entrepreneurial & Resourceful: You see opportunities where others see obstacles, take initiative, achieve results with limited resources, and remain curious and learning-oriented.

Operationally Excellent: You balance strategic vision with implementation, build sustainable systems, manage budgets responsibly, set clear expectations, use data to drive improvement, and know when to standardize versus allow flexibility.

Collaborative & Empowering: You work as a partner across functions, create conditions for others to succeed, distribute leadership, and actively share knowledge across networks.

Culturally Authentic: You operate as "one of the people" with deep understanding of Latin American contexts, values, and dynamics. You build trust through cultural authenticity and genuine respect for regional identity.

Diplomatically Astute: You read complex political and interpersonal dynamics, persuade and influence without formal authority, manage dissent with firmness and empathy, and remain open to diverse perspectives.

Decisive & Transparent: You make informed decisions, communicate them clearly, operate comfortably with autonomy and ambiguity, and earn authority through experience and integrity.

While not essential, the following strengthens candidacy:

• International NGOs, development programs, certification systems, or sustainability organizations
• Market development and commercialization in emerging markets
• Forestry, natural resource management, ecosystem services, or sustainable supply chains (ability to collaborate with technical experts is more important than deep technical knowledge)
• Fostering learning cultures and knowledge-sharing networks

Don’t meet every single requirement? Research shows that individuals from underrepresented groups are less likely to apply for roles unless they meet every listed qualification. At Millar Cameron, we are committed to supporting our clients in building diverse and inclusive teams. If you’re enthusiastic about this role but don’t meet every requirement, we still encourage you to apply - you could be exactly what our client is looking for, either for this position or another.

Since 2007 Millar Cameron has specialised in sourcing leadership and keyperson talent across a number of industries, including agribusiness, international development, industrial, consumer, financial and professional services, private equity, and technology, media and telecommunications. Our mission and purpose is to positively contribute to the development of Africa, and other emerging markets, through the provision of people.

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