Staff Headcount: 35

Meet ARC-PA

The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) serves as the nation’s independent accrediting organization for physician assistant (PA) educational programs. At its core, ARC-PA exists to ensure that future PAs receive a high-quality education by establishing accreditation standards and evaluating programs across the country. Its work ultimately supports one important goal: preparing competent healthcare professionals who will provide exceptional care to patients.

Behind that mission is a team of dedicated professionals who are passionate about excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement. As a fully remote, financially stable organization, ARC-PA has built a culture rooted in integrity, accountability, and service. The team partners closely with PA programs, offering guidance, conducting accreditation reviews and site visits, and helping institutions navigate the accreditation process with consistency and transparency.

As the physician assistant profession continues to grow, ARC-PA is investing in its own future as well. The organization is strengthening its leadership team, expanding operational capacity, and implementing new technologies, including Salesforce, to improve efficiency, enhance collaboration, and better support PA programs nationwide. It’s an exciting season of growth, creating meaningful opportunities for leaders who want to shape the future of healthcare education while serving an organization with a clear and lasting mission.

About the VP of Education

The Vice President of Education (VPE) is a member of the Executive Leadership Team reporting directly to the President and CEO, responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership for all of ARC-PA’s educational initiatives, professional development programs, and stakeholder engagement. In this role, the VPE acts as the organization's educational leader and subject matter expert on PA education and accreditation standards, overseeing the creation of workshops, webinars, conferences, and training resources to support compliance and accreditation quality. 

The VP of Education's responsibilities include:

• Strategic Educational Strategy: Develops a comprehensive educational framework aligned with ARC-PA’s goals and advises the executive team on learning trends and emerging PA educational issues.
• Program Development & Delivery: Plans, implements, and evaluates workshops, webinars, office hours, and conferences designed to clarify national standards and help programs achieve compliance.
• Content & Curriculum Creation: Leads the development of training materials and educational resources, collaborating with accreditation leadership to ensure absolute consistency and accuracy in all external guidance.
• Remote Learning Solutions: Promotes innovative, technology-enabled, and virtual learning solutions that are optimized for a fully remote workforce and stakeholder base.
• Ambassador & Stakeholder Relations: Serves as a visible ambassador to build consensus and strong partnerships with PA program faculty, sponsoring institutional leaders (such as deans and provosts), and national healthcare associations.
• Staff Mentorship: Leads, mentors, and develops the education staff, working in tandem with the team of 14 Accreditation Directors to leverage their specialized pedagogical strengths.
• Operational Oversight: Will likely manage the education department budget in the future and handle contracts with educational consultants, vendors, and partners.

What you bring

The following describes many of the characteristics of the ideal candidate for the VP of Education:

Education and Experience

• A Master’s degree or higher in PA Studies, Health Professions Education, Higher Education Administration, Public Health, Healthcare Administration, Organizational Leadership, or a related discipline.
• PA Credentials: Must be a current or former certified PA (PA-C) and a graduate of an ARC-PA accredited PA program.
• Education & Development Experience: At least seven (7) years of progressively responsible leadership experience in PA education, accreditation, healthcare education, or professional development.
• Accreditation Administration: At least five (5) years of direct experience in PA program accreditation, accreditation leadership, accreditation review, or accreditation-related administration.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• PA Education & Accreditation Standards: Advanced, master-level knowledge of PA education, curriculum development, self-study compliance, and national accreditation standards.
• ARC-PA Policies & Procedures: Extensive familiarity with ARC-PA’s explicit standards, site visitor procedures, self-study preparation, and commission review pathways.
• Pedagogy & Learning Assessment: Thorough understanding of educational program development, learning theories, instructional design, and evaluation metrics.
• Modern Delivery Technologies: Comprehensive knowledge of virtual, hybrid, and technology-enabled learning solutions optimized for remote delivery.
• Strategic & Systems Thinking: Expert skill in developing a long-range educational vision that directly supports ARC-PA’s mission and responds to macro-trends in healthcare education.
• Programmatic Development & Execution: Strong skill in planning, creating, and executing large-scale webinars, interactive workshops, national conferences, and stakeholder resources.
• Consensus Building & Influence: Proven skill in uniting diverse stakeholders around complex compliance standards, and guiding strong-minded educational leaders in a unified direction.
• Executive-Level Communication: Superior public speaking, presentation, and written communication skills suitable for representing the organization to institutional leadership (such as deans, provosts, and presidents).
• Ambassadorial Representation: The ability to act as a visible, trusted ambassador for ARC-PA, building strong relationships with educational programs and external professional associations.
• Leading Educator Teams: The ability to lead, mentor, and leverage the individual talents of a highly professionalized remote team (including 14 Accreditation Directors who are leaders in their own right).
• Fostering Innovation: The ability to think entrepreneurially to predict future stakeholder needs and build proactive educational structures rather than defending the status quo.
• Operational Coordination: The ability to effectively manage department budgets, manage external educational consultants, and collaborate cross-functionally with accreditation and operations departments.cessing bottlenecks and fatigue.

Personal Characteristics & Qualifications

• A "Leader of Leaders" with a Strong Backbone: The ADs are described as exceptional leaders in their own right. The VPE must have the strength of character to hold the reins, manage strong opinions, and confidently say "no" when necessary, without letting the group "run over" them.
• Tactful "Straight Shooter": The team values directness and transparency. They want a manager who delivers the "actual deal" with love and collegiality, rather than someone who feels like they are "handling" or "managing" them.
• High Empathy and Metacognition: This leader must be able to think about how their decisions impact others, build collaborative bridges across departments, and recognize/protect their team from burnout.
• Deep Passion and Respect for the Profession: Since the team is intensely mission-driven, the VPE must carry an equal level of love and advocacy for PA education and the students, faculty, and patients affected by it.