The Old Work of the New Board

By Kent John Chabotar

Trustees are wise to wonder if their boards have the right organization and processes to handle the challenges confronting higher education in a difficult economy. Meeting agendas suggest how complex a board’s work has become: mission and values, strategic priorities, state and private fiscal trends, investment management, student demographics and expectations, accreditation, and much more. Some observers have urged boards to become strategic and focus less on operations or even on philanthropy.

Faced with so many competing demands, what is a board to do?

My experience with trustees comes from service as president and chief financial officer at two private colleges for two decades. I have taught the Association of Governing Boards’ seminar for new trustees for almost that long. On the administrative side, besides holding senior posts, I have been teaching finance at the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education since 1983, including its seminar for new presidents. Here is what I’ve learned.

Continued at: http://chronicle.com/article/The-Old-Work-of-the-New-Board/129219/