Sponsorship Development Associate

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.

The Sponsorship Development Associate will identify and research prospective sponsors, honoree organizations, and executive participants; support outbound outreach and meeting generation; maintain pipeline discipline through CRM and sales enablement platforms; and contribute to strategic sponsorship initiatives, including awards dinners, recognition programs, and other high-profile engagement opportunities.
 

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.
• Coordinate 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.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

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.