Pre-Conference Workshops

  • Effective Financial Governance and Leadership in Independent Schools

    Every independent school trustee must effectively steward the school by fulfilling their fiduciary role. The board’s partnerships with the head of school and business officer are critical in this regard. This new pre-conference workshop will foster a deeper level of fiduciary stewardship and financial governance among trustees and school administrators. We are honored to have John Gulla, Executive Director of the Edward E. Ford Foundation, commence our program with his invaluable insights on the critical role the board plays in leading the school both strategically and generatively, while upholding their fiduciary responsibilities. Timothy Madigan, Ph. D. and MaryKay Coyle, Head of School and CFO respectively of The Churchill School and Center (NYC), will help school leaders learn how the fiduciary responsibilities of the board of trustees can directly influence the financial health and longevity of the organization using case studies and small group discussions. Attendees will also learn what NBOA tools and resources are available to them to ensure they fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities.

    This program is tailored to heads of school, CFOs and trustees of independent schools. Attending in pairs or teams is encouraged; however, individual participants are also welcome.

    Learning Objectives

    • Learn key questions to ask in order to understand an independent school’s financial health.
    • Understand what kinds of financial and operational information is critical to boards and trustees.
    • Discover resources to help trustees carry out their fiduciary responsibilities.

    Credit Information

    CPE Credit
    Field of Study: Business Management & Organization
    Delivery Method: Group Internet Based
    Program Level: Basic
    Prerequisites: None
    Advanced Preparation: None
    Recommended CPE Credits: 3.6

    HRCI Credit
    Recommended HRCI Credits: 3.0
    HRCI Category: HR (Business)

    SHRM Credit
    SHRM PDC Credit: 3.0
    SHRM BoCK: Business Acumen

     

    Sunday, February 23

    Check-In: 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM
    Program: 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Closed

    Members: $420  |  Nonmembers: $590

    MaryKay Coyle

    MaryKay Coyle

    Chief Financial Officer, The Churchill School and Center

    MaryKay joined Churchill in July 2019 as their CFO. In her capacity, she oversees all matters related to the school’s finances, risk and human resources. Prior to Churchill, MaryKay worked on Wall Street for 25+ years as a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank/Bankers Trust. There she oversaw a team of twenty professionals who monitored the risk of a large leveraged corporate loan portfolio. MaryKay also brought experience in independent school governance to Churchill through her involvement with Trevor Day School. There, she served on the Board of Trustees for 14 years, three as President. She ran their Annual Fund, co-led a Head of School search and a strategic plan and was involved in capital campaigns. MaryKay is a cum laude graduate of Villanova University where she earned a BS in Business Administration and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business. MaryKay and her husband reside in New York City and are the proud parents of two sons who are gainfully employed!

    Linda Dennison

    Linda Dennison, ACC, CPA, MS Ed

    Interim Chief Financial and Operating Officer, Walnut Hill School for the Arts

    Linda Dennison is currently the Interim Chief Financial Officer at Walnut Hill School for the Arts. She has previously served as the Chief Financial Officer for Glenelg Country School in Ellicott City, MD and as the Director of Finance and Comptroller for Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. Prior to that she served as the Deputy Head of School and Chief Financial Officer for Indian Creek School where she played a critical role in negotiating the sale of one campus, while creating and implementing a flexible tuition model that stabilized enrollment and increased net tuition revenue. She also served Baltimore Lab School as the Director of Finance and Operations where she created stand-alone financial and operational processes that helped the school spin off as an independent entity, as it had been a division of the Lab School of Washington since its founding in 2000. Linda also worked as the Director, Consulting Services for the National Business Officers Association where her primary responsibilities included leading consulting assignments specifically focused on leadership and governance, school sustainability, and operational effectiveness.

    John Gulla

    John Gulla

    Executive Director, Edward E. Ford Foundation

    John Gulla became the Executive Director of the Edward E. Ford Foundation on July 1, 2013. EE Ford, in its approximately 65 years of making grants, has distributed over $133,000,000 to about 1000 different independent schools. For the preceding 14 years, Gulla was Head of School at The Blake School, a 123 year-old school enrolling 1400 students on three campuses in and around Minneapolis. He has also held administrative and teaching positions at Riverdale Country School, Isidore Newman and St. Ann’s in Brooklyn . A graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University and Amherst College, he grew up the son of two public school teachers in Red Sox Nation just outside Boston. He helped found Fund for Teachers and has served on its Board since its inception in 1998, having chaired it for many years. He has also currently serves on the Board of High Mountain Institute where he was Chair of the Finance Committee for many years. Other Board services included ISACS, MAIS, Milkweed Editions, the Minnesota Chapter of the ACLU, among others. He and his wife, Andrea, have two grown sons and live in Brooklyn.

    Tim Madigan

    Tim Madigan

    Head of School, The Churchill School and Center

    Tim Madigan is the Head of School at The Churchill School and Center. Churchill is a K-12 school for students with language-based learning disabilities. Prior to coming to Churchill, Tim was the Head of School at Stratford Friends School in Newtown Square, PA for eight years. After earning his Ph.D. in English Education, with a focus on Dyslexia research, Tim earned a fellowship at SUNY Buffalo as lead researcher on a $1 million federally funded project investigating reading/writing connections in low performing urban schools. Tim began his career as a teacher, dorm parent, and coach at The Gow School in South Wales, New York. Over the years, Tim has authored and co-authored numerous articles and book chapters and has been invited to speak nationally and internationally on topics related to dyslexia and reading/writing relations. Over the years, Tim has served on numerous independent school and nonprofit boards. Currently, he is a trustee at The Gow School; is the vice president of The Reading League New York; and member of the NCLD Professional Advisory Board.

    Jennifer Osland Hillen

    Jennifer Osland Hillen, CPA, CGMA

    Chief Learning Officer, NBOA

    As NBOA’s chief learning officer, Jennifer Osland Hillen, CPA, CGMA, leads the team that delivers the association’s broad portfolio of programs, industry guidance, and resources across multiple delivery channels. She serves as a subject-matter expert on independent school finance, operations and governance, leads NBOA’s DE&I efforts, and supports the Board's Governance Committee. Hillen serves on the American Society of Association Executives’ Professional Development Advisory Council and has also served on the faculty for the M.Ed. in Independent School Leadership at Vanderbilt University. She worked at Ernst & Young before joining Harpeth Hall School, where she was a business officer for nearly a decade. Hillen has served on the boards and advisory councils of several nonprofits, including Renewal House (treasurer), the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, LEAD Public Schools, and WO Smith Music School. She is a past president of the Junior League of Nashville and a member of Leadership Nashville, and also wrote and illustrated the bestselling children’s book, “GOODNIGHT, NASHVILLE.”

  • Engaging Stakeholders in a Mission-Anchored Compensation Strategy

    Independent schools are in the ultimate “people” business. Compensating the employees who deliver your school’s mission every day is critically important to the health and stability of your school and must be balanced with a financially sustainable system. Leaders in independent schools looking to innovate their compensation systems in a highly relational environment must integrate stakeholder input into the decision-making and change management process. Gathering feedback and gaining support from those most directly impacted by your compensation model guarantees the success of a system, from determining its structure to implementing significant change. Each stakeholder’s investment and role in the process of considering and determining compensation system changes will be different.

    Jump start your learning at the NBOA Annual Meeting in this pre-conference workshop with compensation experts and explore the innovations you may want to consider implementing at your school. Presenters will discuss the role of stakeholders from board members to faculty in changing your compensation system and illuminate practices to solicit input and information from all affected constituencies without derailing the change process.

    Learning Objectives

    • Learn who the stakeholders are in a school’s compensation system.
    • Learn communication and feedback systems commonly used by schools as a part of change management.
    • Learn best practices for compensation system implementation.

    Credit Information

    CPE Credit
    Field of Study: Personnel/Human Resources
    Delivery Method: Group Internet Based
    Program Level: Basic
    Prerequisites: None
    Advanced Preparation: None
    Recommended CPE Credits: 3.6

    HRCI Credit
    Recommended HRCI Credits: 3.0
    HRCI Category: HR (General)

    SHRM Credit
    SHRM PDC Credit: 3.0
    SHRM BoCK: HR Expertise (Total Rewards)

     

    Sunday, February 23

    Check-In: 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM
    Program: 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Closed

    Members: $420  |  Nonmembers: $590

    Elizabeth Dabney

    Elizabeth Dabney

    Senior Director, Research and Data Analysis, NBOA

    As NBOA’s senior director, research and data analysis, Elizabeth Dabney leads the development, planning and management of industry research using data from the association’s Business Intelligence for Independent Schools (BIIS, pronounced “biz”) platform, in addition to other research activities as identified by the association’s strategic plan. Dabney’s research and analysis supports NBOA’s mission to inform NBOA members and other external stakeholders and encourage data-driven decision making throughout the independent school community. Dabney brings to NBOA more than 20 years of research experience. Previously, she was the director, research and policy analysis at the Data Quality Campaign, a nonprofit education policy and advocacy organization, and the nation’s leading voice on education data policy and use.

    Patrick Schuermann

    Patrick Schuermann, Ed.D.

    Chief Strategy and Impact Officer, Optima Independent

    Patrick Schuermann is a school leadership consultant and a lead faculty member of the NBOA Leadership Academy, among many other research commitments. With over 25 years of experience cultivating leadership in individuals and organizations, Schuermann has authored numerous articles, commissioned reports and books on leadership, and won an Emmy Award for Best Educational Piece for his documentary “A Matter of Principals.” Schuermann founded the Peabody Professional Leadership Institutes at Vanderbilt University and directed the Independent School Leadership Master’s Program for eight years. In addition to these university-based initiatives, Schuermann has collaborated on the design and delivery of programs and resources in support of the independent school community with NBOA and a host of national and state associations.

    Amber Stockham

    Amber Stockham, SPHR

    Senior Director, Human Resources Programs, NBOA

    With 20 years of human resources-related experience, Amber Stockham, SPHR, brings expertise in regulatory compliance, talent acquisition and management, organizational planning, and compensation and benefits design to her role as senior director, human resources programs at NBOA. Prior to joining NBOA in 2020, her career spanned a variety of industries, including social services, manufacturing and construction. She found a passion for education when she served as the director of human resources at Miss Hall’s School, an independent day/boarding school for girls in grades 9-12 in Massachusetts. In her current role, Stockham develops and delivers highly practical and engaging programs, products and services on topics ranging from difficult conversations and employee supervision to benefits administration. Stockham holds a master of business administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.