The Trustee Table

In this episode, Dr. Jack Creeden shares how board chairs and school heads can partner effectively around critical issues such as promoting a positive board culture, onboarding new trustees, and engaging in the head of school’s evaluation. Jack is a longtime independent school leader who has written and spoken extensively on governance, strategic planning, and the relationship between the board chair and head of school. He has served as head of Fountain Valley School (CO), Providence Day School (NC), and Chadwick School (CA). An expert on cross-cultural competency and the intersection between global studies and diversity initiatives, he was also president of School Year Abroad. There he was responsible for the leadership and administration of the program’s four schools in China, France, Italy, and Spain. Early in his career, he held administrative positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Rutgers University. He chaired the NAIS Board of Trustees and was a member of the National Commission on Accreditation. Most recently, he authored the soon to be released NAIS Board Chair Handbook. He has an undergrad degree from the College of the Holy Cross and his MA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

In this episode, Dr. Cathy Trower provides behind the scenes insights of what happens during a board executive session, who on the board should be involved, and how the board chair and head of school can navigate this often complex governance issue. For over 20 years, Dr. Trower has been providing governance consulting services to nonprofit organizations that include colleges and universities, hospitals and health care systems, independent schools, foundations, and community service organizations. She has been invited to speak on the subject of governance at numerous conferences, institutes, webinars, and meetings nationwide. Dr. Trower was co-founder of the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and most recently served there as a Senior Research Associate and Research Director. She has studied nonprofit board governance, and faculty employment issues, policies, and practices since 1996. In November 2013 she made the decision to transition fully to governance consulting and research, and is the president and a principal of Trower and Trower, Inc. Dr. Trower is also Chair of the BoardSource Board of Directors, and Vice Chair and Governance Committee Chair of the RiverWoods Board of Trustees.

In this episode, Dr. David Brazer of Stanford University discusses why board culture is critical to success, the impact of board culture on schools and communities, and steps trustees can take to support and maintain a positive board culture. David is an associate professor at Stanford, who began his tenure as the Faculty Director for Leadership Degree Programs in 2013. In addition to leading the Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies MA, and joint degrees with the Graduate School of Business, the Public Policy Program, and the Law School for the past five years, he has taught courses focused on leadership theory, research, and practice. He has published case studies on strategic decision-making and his 15 year career as a K – 12 educator spans middle and high school teaching in an independent school in Michigan and public high school administration in California. His newest book, Leading Schools to Learn, Grow, and Thrive: Using Theory to Strengthen Practice, was published in January 2019 and most recently, he has been working with TeachFX, a company focused on assessing student engagement.

In this episode, Debra Wilson, NAIS General Counsel, discusses some of the common legal issues trustees may face while serving on independent school boards, such as conflicts of interest, confidentiality, risk management, and head of school contracts and compensation. In her role at NAIS, Debra directs the organization’s government relations work, reviews and analyzes federal regulations and legislation, tracks legal trends, and coordinates independent school advocacy at the federal level. Her contributions to the independent school world are innumerable; she is an authority on legal issues related to independent schools, writes advisories, offers general legal information for schools, presents to school leaders around the country, coordinates amicus briefs on cases of industry importance, and refers schools to counsel as needed. Debra will leave NAIS at the end of April to serve as the next president of SAIS and was recently awarded the NBOA Sarah Daignault Outstanding Support of Independent Schools Award.

In this episode, Dr. Scott Bauer, professor and associate dean for advanced education and doctoral programs in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver, discusses how boards can think about planned change more strategically using research-based practices, the critical questions boards should consider before instituting change, and how to avoid common pitfalls during implementation. Before joining the faculty in SEHD, Bauer was professor and director of the education leadership division in the College of Education and Human Development, George Mason University, a faculty member of the University of New Orleans, and research director of the School Leadership Center of Greater New Orleans. Over the past several years, he has served as developer and lead faculty for NAIS’s School Leadership Team Experience institute. His newest book (with David Brazer and Bob Johnson), Leading Schools to Learn, Grow, and Thrive: Using Theory to Strengthen Practice, was published in January 2019.

In this first episode, Anne-Marie Balzano, Director of Governance and Leadership at NAIS, and Barbara Aaron Rosston, a strategic consultant for independent schools and nonprofits discuss the major roles and responsibilities of trustees, as well as some of the common issues members face when serving on independent school boards.

About Barb Rosston - Barb has spent more than 20 years as a trustee of independent schools, including serving as Board Chair at both Keys School and Castilleja School in Palo Alto, CA. She was instrumental in leading both schools through strategic planning processes and campus expansions. She serves on a variety of nonprofit boards including the Challenge Success and the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. These experiences have proven valuable in her role as consultant. She has previously worked as an attorney and a linguist for the US Government. Barbara is a graduate of Vassar College and the University of San Francisco School of Law.