Sponsorship Development Associate

About The Conference Board

Founded in 1916, The Conference Board is the member-driven think tank that delivers trusted insights for what’s ahead. Our agenda is simple: to help leaders navigate the biggest issues facing business and better serve society. We believe in innovative approaches that make you think- and act- differently. And everything we do reflects the input of our members and their real-world challenges.

What it’s like to work here: While it’s serious work to operate a global business think tank, it’s also fulfilling — and fun! Our people enjoy what they do and know their ideas matter. We encourage everyone to take personal ownership for outcomes: we collaborate, share a purpose and commit to each other and to our Members. It’s all about doing our very best - which means we succeed as our Members succeed - together we improve society.

Position Summary

The Conference Board is seeking a highly organized, strategic, and results-oriented Sponsorship Development Associate to join the Sponsorships team. This role supports early-stage sponsorship pipeline growth, executive engagement, and awards-related business development across The Conference Board's Centers and flagship events portfolio.

Accountabilities

• Prospecting, Outreach, and Pipeline Development
• Consistently meet or exceed monthly, quarterly, and annual pipeline targets by identifying, researching, and engaging decision-makers, influencers, prospective sponsors, and potential honoree organizations.
• Conduct targeted company, industry, and executive research to assess fit, strategic rationale, sponsorship potential, and alignment with The Conference Board's mission, audience priorities, and program objectives.
• Support outbound outreach across email, phone, LinkedIn, and other channels to generate meetings, advance conversations, and build early-stage relationships.
• Segment and prioritize prospects based on target industries, buyer personas, event or awards relevance, leadership profile, and revenue potential.
• Sponsorship and Executive Engagement Support
• Support sponsorship and executive engagement initiatives tied to conferences, awards dinners, recognition programs, and other strategic events.
• Draft tailored outreach language, meeting materials, invitation copy, and executive-facing communications for prospects, sponsors, honoree organizations, and internal stakeholders.
• Cook up introductory conversations and follow-up activity between prospective organizations and internal leadership, Center, Sales, Programming, and Marketing teams.
• Develop briefing materials, talking points, and background research to support senior leader engagement and relationship-building discussions.
• Sales Strategy, Operations, and Collaboration
• Work closely with Sales, Programming, Marketing, and Center teams to refine outreach strategies, messaging, prospect targeting, and sponsorship positioning.
• Contribute to the development of sales collateral, pipeline materials, pricing support, and process improvements that streamline sponsorship operations.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of prospect activity, outreach status, engagement history, and pipeline movement within CRM and sales enablement platforms.
• Support best practices in pipeline management, sales operations, and cross-functional coordination to improve team effectiveness.
• Reporting, Research, and Analysis
• Track key activity and performance metrics, including outreach volume, meeting conversion, pipeline growth, lead quality, engagement progress, and participation outcomes.
• Provide data-informed insights on prospecting performance, market trends, revenue potential, and sponsorship or awards pipeline development.
• Leverage research, CRM data, and analytics to refine targeting strategies, improve outreach effectiveness, and identify emerging opportunities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, or a related field.
• 0–3 years of experience in sales, business development, sponsorship, events, fundraising, donor relations, executive engagement, communications, or a related field.
• Strong communication, research, writing, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to synthesize information into clear, compelling, executive-facing materials.
• Demonstrated resilience, sound judgment, and problem-solving ability in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Familiarity with CRM, sales enablement, research, and AI tools such as SugarCRM, HubSpot, ZoomInfo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ChatGPT, or similar platforms.
• Strong aptitude for pipeline management, revenue forecasting, reporting, and using data to inform sales and outreach strategy.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple priorities independently and collaboratively.