Program Highlights and Faculty

4 KEY COMMITTEE TRACKS (participants choose one track)

■●Academic Affairs
A critical look at the cultural and practical issues of the enterprise of higher education: learning, students, curriculum, and faculty. This workshop offers innovative, practical advice that you can take away to strengthen your committee's and board’s relationship with the core institutional missions of teaching and learning. The course is led by Paula Brownlee, former president, Hollins College, and president emerita, Association of American Colleges and Universities and William F. Massy, professor emeritus, Stanford University, and president, Jackson Hole Higher Education Group

■●Development/Advancement
You will learn about trends and practices that compel the work of an effective advancement committee and engage in peer-to-peer discussions about best practices in fund-raising, including costs, principles, practices, and related issues. The course is led by Jim Lanier, senior fellow, Board Education and Consulting Services, AGB, and former vice chancellor, institutional advancement, and CEO, East Carolina University (ECU) Foundation and ECU Real Estate Foundation; and Jake Schrum, president, Southwestern University.

■● Finance
Strategic budgeting, financial planning, and financial crisis management frame the discussions of this hands-on course. Best practices and structures for finance committees and their subcommittees are identified, as are critical functional areas in information technology that may help in tracking and maintaining the financial health of independent institutions. You’ll learn from real case studies and experiences the do’s and don’ts that will help you, your committee, and your board achieve balanced financial oversight. This workshop is taught by financial expert and popular author Kent John Chabotar, president, Guilford College.

■● Trusteeship
Building and perpetuating strong board leadership in order to achieve stability is an imperative for today’s externally stressed independent institutions. This course explores current practices and trends as well as practical ways to develop and maintain viable, effective boards through the strategic work of the committee on trustees. Workshop is led by veteran independent college leaders Douglas M. Orr, president emeritus, Warren Wilson College; and Yvonne Jackson, board chair, Spelman College, and director, AGB.

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3 CRITICAL-ISSUE, PRELIMINARY WORKSHOPS (choose one concurrent session; separate registration is required)

■●Presidential Contracts, Compensation, and Assessment. This session is designed to help boards and presidents understand the legal and strategic information needed to manage these key areas of accountability, as well as using assessment wisely to strengthen relationships and performance. This workshop is led by consultant and expert Charles W. Quatt, founder, Quatt & Asssociates; and by higher education leader Robert H. Atwell, president emeritus, American Council on Education.

■●The Do’s and Don’ts of the Audit Committee. This informative session will update participants on the value, mission, and appropriate functions of the audit committee in this post-Sarbanes-Oxley era, and will identify and select best practices for independent institutions. Workshop is led by practitioner and scholar John A. Mattie, national education and practice leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

■●Alternative Investment Strategies. Choose this session to learn more about current trends in management and oversight of alternative investments, and to identify the questions that boards and committees need to ask in evaluating specific investment opportunities. Workshop is led by financial expert and practitioner Rick Grzymaijlo, managing principal, Fund Evaluation Group.

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2 NOTABLE PLENARIES

■●Enterprise Risk Management: Where Do We Go from Here?

Janice M. Abraham, president and CEO of United Educators Insurance, will speak on the current environment for enterprise risk management, what it means for independent higher education, and how we should be responding. She also will address the special role of trustees in this vital area of activity.

■●The 5 Percent Solution? Endowment Spending Practices and Policies

Verne O. Sedlacek, president and CEO of Commonfund, will discuss existing policies and practices of institutional endowment spending, the current ideas circulating about the future of such policies, and what experts are recommending.

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1 GREAT LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Join us in Arlington, Virginia on November 12-13 for this special learning and networking event for trustees of independent colleges and universities.