March 5 - 6, 2020 | Ravenscroft School 

Agenda

March 5, 2020
11:00am      Registration

12:00pm      Opening Speaker | Sponsored by Stifel and Lunch | Sponsored by FACTS
Pandemic Preparedness | Linda Nelson & Lisa Gordon Stella
Briefing: Novel Coronavirus Impact on Health, Travel, and Business Operations | Presented by Marsh McLennan Agency

2:00pm Breakout Session I | Select One
How Schools Get Into Trouble | Martin Kelly, ISM  This session is eligible for 1 credit hour of CPE for CPAs 
Based on a 5-year look-back of claims and suits (brought against over 2,000 private schools), we can have a brief “1,000-foot” discussion of prevention and mitigation protocols in these areas:

The Business Office and North Carolina Law | Lisa Gordon Stella, Attorney  This session is eligible for 1 credit hour of CPE for CPAs 
This session will focus on the impact of employment laws on a school’s business office.  We will cover the Fair Labor Standards Act, including the recent changes effective January 1, 2020, employee payroll deductions, return of school property, and record keeping.  Questions are strongly encouraged!

Executing a Turnaround: A View from the Inside | Joshua Lassiter, First Tryon Investments  
As institutions across the country (particularly institutions that are small, rural, and/or minority) work through constant challenges related to constricting enrollment and financial resources, this session offers a first-hand, inside look at a true turnaround story, told by the former CFO of Elizabeth City State University. The session will contain rich practical insight on what one school did to reverse the negative trends that are affecting so many. 

3:00pm       Break | Sponsored by ADT CyberSecurity Division

3:30pm      Breakout Session II | Select One
Code of Conduct Policies: Updating with a Sense of Urgency | Tom Eller, Wesleyan Academy & Karl Sherrill, Marsh McLennan Agency
Our schools are a microcosm of society. It is critical to review and update our code of conduct policies given society’s heightened levels of awareness regarding abuse. 

Technology Audits & Cybersecurity Best Practices | Rudy Messex, Cybersecurity Consultant and Rich Blue, Territory Manager, Sonic Wall
During this session, we will touch on the ever-growing cybersecurity threats to K-12 schools, as well as the challenges facing our educational institutions to find the correct solutions. From schools with an IT team to schools with an IT department-of-one, we will explore ways to improve the safety and efficiency of IT, stretching and maximizing budget dollars.

4:30pm      Formal Program Concludes | Optional Roundtable Discussions (*for those who don’t need to check into a hotel)

5:30pm      Reception | Sponsored By TowneBank

6:15pm      Dinner | Sponsored By TowneBank

March 6, 2020
8:30am      Continental Breakfast & Roundtable Discussions | Sponsored by A. W. G. Dewar

9:15am      Breakout Session III | Select One
Tell Your Story in Your 990 | Beth Allen, Greer Walker   This session is eligible for 1 credit hour of CPE for CPAs.
How can you use your required Federal information return to help tell the story of the great work you are doing? Please join us for a look at various ways to market your school through the 990. During the session, we will explore the best use of your 990, what readers are looking for in your 990, and the financial ratios in the 990s: what do they mean. 

Partnerships that Work: Leveraging the Relationship with your Tech Team | Jason Ramsden, Ravenscroft
Do you know what minimums are required to run your school's programs? What it takes to get to the next tier? What are considered best practices? What security measures need to be in place to keep your students and employees safe? As schools continue to invest in technology across all areas of campus, Business Officers are the tech department's best advocate to get funding for technology but they should also be the technology department's most trusted ally as well. This session will focus on best practices for schools of all sizes and will gear the presentation to audience needs in real-time.

Automation in the Educational Landscape | Damian Kavanaugh, MISBO
Yes, the robots are taking over and Skynet is already here. By considering economic theory, especially human capital theory and Baumol’s cost disease, we will set the stage for understanding how automation is playing a key role in today’s workplace. There are plenty of AI fails and AI successes to look for and we will walk through what machine learning can and can’t do in the operations of schools.

10:15am      Break | Sponsored by Suntrust/Truist

10:45am      Breakout Session IV | Select One
Demographics, Economics, and the Changing Educational Landscape | Linda Nelson, NCAIS

The ROI of Summer and Auxiliary Enterprises – Hint: It’s Not Just Money | Damian Kavanagh
If you are short on time, you can dry off a dew-wet field with a helicopter, but under what circumstances would you really need to? I will be happy to tell you about it when we talk about the hunt for the elusive alternative revenue streams. The ROI of your auxiliary operations is only partly about the money, the rest is community outreach and putting more branded t-shirts into circulation and doing it all in a safe and risk-tolerant way. 

Policies, Best Practices, and Pitfalls (Oh My!) | Jared Brown, CPA, Brown Edwards, Lisa Gordon Stella, North Carolina Attorney, Amy Bright, Controller, Ravenscroft, Pam Hemphill, Chief Financial Officer, Greensboro Day School
In this fast-paced session, our panel of experts will take on a variety of hot topics and share their thoughts as an expert in their field. There will be plenty of time for questions from the crowd, so come prepared! We will explore topics ranging from collections policies, sales tax law, purchasing card implementation and beyond. It isn’t often that we have the opportunity to hear from a CPA, attorney, controller, and CFO all at once!