7:30 am

Breakfast

8:15 am

Conference Welcome and General Announcements

8:30 am

Designing Compensation Systems for Mission Congruence and Financial Sustainability, Sponsored by First American Education Finance

John Littleford, Senior Partner, Littleford and Associates 

Sixty to eighty five percent of an independent school’s total budget consists of faculty and staff compensation and benefits. Yet most boards and heads have little or no knowledge of how this money is delivered or whether the salary and benefit system is mission specific and mission driven. Why is this important? The salary and benefit system should be designed to attract, retain and reward faculty who embrace and will advance a school’s mission and vision. Business Managers are the "brokers" here between the staff, head and board.

10:00 am

Break/Exhibitor Time Sponsored by TIAA

10:15 am

Best Practices

Business Officers are asked to bring a policy they are willing to share with others.

11:15 am

Breakout Sessions (Block I)

Accounting Update, Tony Smith, Partner, GreerWalker Certified Public Accountants, (Room A)   

Campus Planning  and Building a New Building; Lessons Learned to Reduce Your Stress! Bill Monroe, President, WGM Design Inc. and Whit Brown, Cannon School, (Room C)

Cannon School has recently completed several buildings and infrastructure projects on their campus. Whit Brown of Cannon School and Bill Monroe of WGM Design will discuss the learning curve that faces business managers when a campus expands. They will lead you through the  design and construction phases and will provide a checklist of the master planning process, the building design process, the construction process, financing options, capital campaigns and current project costs. This will be a lessons learned presentation to make your life easier when you start the next project on your campus.

12:30 pm

Lunch/Exhibitor Time Sponsored by FACTS/RenWeb

1:30 pm

Data and Analysis for School Leadership (DASL) with NCAIS and NAIS, Hilary LaMonte, Senior Vice President, Data and Analysis for School Leadership, NAIS

Learn how your leadership team and board can get the most out of DASL, the independent school benchmarking system used by every state and regional association and hosted by NAIS.  Get a sneak peek at new tools around market analysis for independent schools.  See the reports that your associations have configured for you, and dive into the tools you can use to create your own set of reports targeted directly at your school’s priorities and concerns.

2:45 pm

Break/Exhibitor Time 

3:00 pm

Breakout Sessions (Block II)

What is Inevitable about how Schools are Going to Look Like 20-years from Now?, Matthew Rankin, Assistant Vice President for Education, First American Education Finance,  (Room B)

The business office plays an important role in education as schools evolve to meet the needs of a constantly shifting world.  Come collaborate with your peers as we discuss how business officers can support this transformation in the education model.  You are free to start with a blank slate, although some recent trends include shifting from teaching organizations to learning organizations, embracing new learning methods, providing professional development to staff, and more.

E-Rate - Getting Through the Maze to Get the Funding, Rosemary Enos, Founder, Epic Communications (Room A)

Join us to find out how the E-Rate Program has changed and how to maneuver through the E-Rate Productivity Center (EPC Portal) to get E-Rate funding.  Bring all your E-Rate questions and get answers!

4:15 pm

Break until Evening Social with Heads of School and Trustees

5:15 pm

NCAIS Social Sponsored by Paragon Bank  

6:15 pm

Dinner Co-Sponsored by UNUM, Selective, and Marsh MCClennan

After Dinner

Eyes Wide Shut ~ From a National to Regional Perspective, Amada Torres, VP for Studies, Insights, and Research and NAIS and Laura Reed, Director of Professional Development, NCAIS, (Knollwood Hall)

This session will invite both conversation and examination aimed at building a deeper understanding of the variables that contribute to the undeniable intersection between gender and the culture of independent school leadership. This session will also include national, regional and North Carolina data.

7:30 am

Breakfast Sponsored by OUTGO 360

8:15 am

Conference General Announcements

8:30 am

The Longevity of Heads and the Effectiveness of Schools, Sponsored by George K. Baum & Company 

John Littleford, Senior Partner, Littleford and Associates 

Long term heads leave legacies of stronger schools. Short term heads leave power vacuums filled by faculty, board and parents. Long term heads stay at least 10 years and leave accomplishments that survive, traditions that are valued and faculty cultures that are healthy and focusing on the same mission. Short term heads may contribute to political instability on the boards themselves, constantly changing definitions of the mission, and a real or perceived community perception of weakness. This session highlights 20 years of powerful research showing the correlation between longer serving heads and the greater academic and financial strength and reputation of schools. The session will also point out the ways in which strong boards hire, nurture, evaluate, reward and keep long term "legacy maker" heads.

10:00 am

Break/Exhibitor Time Sponsored by Magnus Health

10:15 am

Facilitated Deep Dive Groups by the following affiliations:

• Small Schools:  Less than 50 Employees

• Mid-sized Schools: 51-199 Employees

• Large Schools - More than 200 Employees

• Faith-based Schools

11:30 am

Current and Coming Legal and Political Issues, Debra Wilson, General Counsel, National Association of Independent Schools 

It can be hard to track the ball as it bounces around Washington, DC these days. What is happening with immigration? Where are we with wage and hour? What does the NAIS TABS Report on Sex Abuse Prevention and Response mean to our school? Are therapy animals really becoming a thing? What other trends in risk management are affecting us? Come join this interaction session to dig into these and more issues on the horizon!

12:45 pm

Lunch

All Business Officers and Heads of School will eat lunch in Room B.

• The Business Officers and Heads of School luncheon will include a legislative update and NAIS metro studies information session.

All Trustees will eat lunch in Room A.

• The Trustee luncheon will include a session led by John Littleford on Head Compensation: Knowing Your Head AND Your Constituents and the Balance of Transparency and Confidentiality in Board/Head Partnerships.

2:00 pm

Breakout Sessions

Getting Outside the Bubble – Using Constituent Research to Set Strategic Priorities, J. Craig Goebel, Principal and Stacy Williams, Director of Client Relations & Communications, Art & Science Group (Room C)

We will explore how and why institutions can (and should) take a different approach to strategy – one that explicitly takes into consideration the points of view of their key constituents. Using research to inform strategic planning can help school leaders make tough choices, avoid investments in the wrong initiatives, and prioritize the right initiatives. Given the difficulty of leading change, indisputable data can help leadership move beyond the inevitable anecdote-driven conversations to truly advance an institution’s future.  In this session we will examine the underlying principles for a less painful and more effective strategic planning and positioning process, as well as the roles of the Board, Head of school and Business Officer in leading strategic planning efforts.

NC School Choice Programs: An Overview and Dialogue, Darrell Allison, President,  Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, Cobb Atkinson, NCAIS Board Member and Head of School,  Westchester Country Day, Dr. Bartley R. Danielsen, Assoc. Professor of Finance and Real Estate, NC State University and President, Environmentalists for Effective Education, and Linda Nelson, Executive Director, NCAIS  (Room A)

According to a recent public university study, ninety-four percent of families choosing state scholarship programs said that “educational quality” was the most important factor in selecting a private school for their children.  Thanks to the Opportunity Scholarship and Special Education Scholarship Grants, families are finding their “fit” in private and independent schools across the state.  Since its inception in 2011, parental school choice in NC has grown in both numbers of students and variety of programs with approximately half of NCAIS schools currently participating.  This session will begin with overview of the private school landscape and education trends in North Carolina.  We’ll learn about the growing state scholarship programs available to families seeking a high quality private education, including the state’s first-ever Education Savings Account being introduced in February 2018. We invite you to bring your thoughts and questions and join the dialogue with fellow school leaders about current and future programs: Are they a good fit for your school? What value can they bring your school? What are your concerns?  

Long Range Financial Planning Tools for Trustees and Heads of Schools, Palmer Ball, Founder, Palmer Ball Consulting, LLC (Room B)

Accreditation and strategic planning are important processes (some might say necessary evils!) that require boards and school leadership to focus on the long term future and financial equilibrium of a school.  This session will review a number of tools trustees and heads can use for financial planning in conjunction with future accreditation visits, strategic plans, etc.  Sample tools will be reviewed and templates provided to participants, that can be implemented by their schools, including the NBOA Long Range Financial Model, long term financial aid model, 5 year NAIS DASL stats comparison, 5 year DASL stats comparison with benchmark schools, faculty salary analysis with public schools and benchmark schools, 1 page financial dashboard, etc.  Questions will be identified that school leaders should be asking in relation to a school's financial health, its recent history and its future projections.  Participants will leave with tools in hand that will assist their schools in obtaining the necessary data to make informed decisions and analyze and project the future impact of those decisions on their school's finances.

3:00 pm

Break/Exhibitor Time Sponsored by Resource Group 175

3:15 pm

Common (and to common) Employment Law Mistakes Made by Independent Schools, Jon Yarbrough, Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP

There is more to school than the ABC’s and 1,2,3s.  Independent schools need to make sure that they also follow the ADA, FMLA, FLSA, Title VII and ever expanding alphabet of laws and regulations.  With employment litigation increasing – and a recent record setting jury verdict – smart employers are ensuring compliance with various state and employment laws to try to avoid winding up as a defendant in court.  This interactive session will explore some of the most common, and some not so common, mistakes made by independent schools that could land them in court.

4:15 pm

Adjourn (Business Officer and Trustee sessions conclude - Programming for Heads continues through noon on Friday)