Hospitality and higher education have a striking degree of similarity says Lynn Valenter, Vice Chancellor of Finance and Operations as Washington State University Vancouver. From facilities to customer service to security and police, Valenter brings experience from her first career in hospitality services to her role as CBO every day.

Valenter shares her focus on public-private and public-public partnerships as a key strategy for supporting growth for the institution. Her advice for new CBOs coming from the private sector? Understand shared governance: "It's completely non-intuitive coming from the private sector." This week on CBO Speaks, this seasoned CBO offers insights for mentors and mentees, resources for ongoing professional development that may come as a surprise, and the critical role of developing a broad functional understanding of departments beyond finance.