Heather McGowan is an award-winning industrial designer, futurist and author. She will keynote the final day of the 2026 NBOA Annual Meeting, which also features a morning of AI focused sessions. In conversation with NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields, McGowan shares how today's independent school business leaders can embrace continuous learning — and unlearning — to keep their practices up to speed. Together they explore effective uses of AI in the workplace, which enhance rather than replace the human workforce, as well as broader adaptation practices that leaders honed during the pandemic and can be tapped again today.  

Mike Flanagan, CEO of the newly formed E3n, a merger of EMA and ERB, worked in ed tech, led the SSS financial aid product and then the Mastery Transcript Consortium before taking the helm of the new association focused on enrollment and assessment. With host and NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields, Flanagan talks about how his background in product management as well as deep experience in educational operations has informed his view of the current independent school market and what school leaders need to help their schools succeed as markets of eligible families shrink. Flanagan also looks ahead to the transformative role of human-centered AI and actionable data in shaping the future of independent schools.

Commonfund Institute Executive Director George Suttles shares with NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields why he's taking on an Ed.D. in education and innovation on top of leadership and board service roles. Diving into trends in independent school investment strategies, they look back at NBOA's 20-year partnership with Commonfund Institute to study independent school endowments and key takeaways from a report analyzing investment practices over that time. Suttles also delves into the "polycrisis" of the current moment and explores why investing with multiple scenarios in mind pays dividends. 

NBOA Advisory Services was launched to meet a need that independent school leaders had voiced for years — a need for school-specific business operations consulting, be it a business office assessment, CFO placement or long-range financial planning. President and CEO of NBOA Advisory Services, James Palmieri, Ed.D., CAE, shares his leadership journey, which includes many roles that hadn't previously existed — from leading strategic initiatives within an established school, to launching a new independent school, to leading this new venture. With NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields, Palmieri reflects on the path that led to this moment and the vision behind creating a service dedicated to helping independent schools strengthen their business operations, as well as early lessons from the first engagements. 

The 2025 recipient of the Ken White Distinguished Business Officer Award, Sandi Pierce, shares how her role at Cate School, a boarding school in Carpinteria, California, has shifted from chief business officer to assistant head of school, full stop. In her more than 30 years at Cate, Pierce has handled the full range of operations responsibilities, from response to severe wildfires and other natural disasters, "other duties" as an advisor and dorm parent. Building direct connections with students has critically informed her leadership in school business and operations. 

Assistant Head for Enrollment Kathy Gonzalez leads a team of 12 admissions professionals at Hawken School, which has five campuses around Cleveland, Ohio. But she hasn't always worked in such an expansive program. Gonzalez started out in development at her alma mater, where she built the program from the ground up; moved into teaching and then into enrollment. In previous roles in the Pacific Northwest and now in the Midwest, she has convened enrollment professionals across the independent school community. With NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields, Gonzalez shares how she strengthens her relationship with the business office, her involvement with equity and inclusion in the community, and her leadership of the robust enrollment team at Hawken. 

Before joining the NBOA Board of Directors, current NBOA Board Chair Beth Pollard and immediate past Chair Duncan Booth had plenty of experience in the boardroom as independent school business leaders. However, Pollard, who serves as CFO at The Ensworth School in Nashville, and Booth, who serves as COO at The St. Paul’s Schools in Baltimore, gained new perspectives when tasked with governing as opposed to executing board vision and strategy, as they do in their school roles. In this episode, they discuss with host and NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields what they've learned about building trust, moderating honest conversations, and the significant return on volunteer leadership. 

Olaf Weckesser, CFO at The Pingry School in New Jersey, may come up with the best April's Fools jokes on campus, but for him, school strategy is no laughing matter. When Pingry leaders had the opportunity to acquire property from a nearby closing independent school, they seized it, even though they hadn't mapped out all the details. Now the former dorms provide housing for faculty who otherwise would be commuting long distances, while other spaces enrich the day-school and auxiliary program experience, helping Pingry stand out in a competitive market. Weckesser shares the collective efforts to shape the school's value proposition and the business strategy behind it. 

Josh Abrams shares his unexpected journey from math teacher to co-founder and head of Meridian Academy in Boston, where he has led both the academic program and school business for 20 years. An intentionally small, financially accessible school, Meridian has launched creative and cost-effective faculty support programs to retain faculty, including a housing assistance grant. "Teachers are easy to spoil," he says. Abrams also stressed the importance of transparency, flexibility and values-based leadership in building a strong school culture. The school has developed an internal succession plan to ensure seamless school leadership.  

In this episode, John Gulla, executive director of the Edward E. Ford Foundation, shares insights from a remarkable career that has taken him to more than 750 independent schools. Gulla discusses his journey from the classroom to foundation leadership, the transformative power of teaching, and how E.E. Ford’s grantmaking supports innovation and adaptability across the independent school landscape. He also shares what his recent sabbatical taught him about the evolving role of education in society. Independent schools play a critical role in preserving educational freedom and leading change in uncertain times, Gulla asserted.