How to highlight the importance of past positions in CV?
If a title or position is unclear, or an institution is possibly not well known, just explain it in a few words:


  
  Director of Supersonic Operations department (15 researchers) at Small U.
  Time-management officer, Funny Inc. (in charge of scheduling company-wide meetings)
  Information officer, U. of North Virginia (CTO-like position, managing computing resources for 10,000+ students and staff)
  


Be as concise as possible, but give the reader some idea of the scope of your activities. And if the position is clear or well-known, just don't add any details.