Other Duties as Required

AGB’s Upcoming Survey Will Ask How Board Professionals’ Duties Have Changed Since 2020

By Lesley McBain September 23, 2024 Blog Post

Opinions expressed in AGB blogs are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the institutions that employ them or of AGB.

AGB has periodically collected survey data on board professionals since 1991. For those who may be unfamiliar with the term, “board professionals” describes staff who keep higher education governing boards functioning. In the last iteration of the AGB Survey of Board Professionals (2020), nearly 85 percent of respondents indicated they also had other duties/responsibilities within their institution, system, or foundation.¹

This AGB Research blog, in anticipation of the October 2024 launch of the newest iteration of the AGB Survey of Board Professionals, delves deeper into those previous results.

Looking Back: Other Duties as Required, 2020

As can be seen in the table reproduced below, the baseline responsibilities measured in the survey (using a checkbox-question format) are extensive. They range from traditional administrative/support tasks to interpersonal liaison duties to writing/editing.

Responsibilities Assumed as a Board Professional 2020 (%)²

Responsibility	%
Plan and manage board meetings (e.g., develop agenda, provide staff support, etc.)	93.9
Manage storage and retrieval system for board documents	86.8
Coordinate board retreats and other events	86.8
Draft, edit, and/or approve committee meeting minutes	84.6
Plan orientation or orient new board members	82.5
Plan and manage committee meetings (e.g., develop agenda, provide staff support, etc.)	81.6
Draft, edit, or revise items for board action (resolutions, etc.)	81.6
Plan and staff off-site board member retreats	76.8
Manage the board website and web-based communication	71.9
Oversee budgets in support of the board’s function	70.2
Coordinate board self-assessment process	70.2
Coordinate ongoing education for board members	69.3
Manage correspondence on behalf of board members	68.4
Serve as liaison between the board and faculty, students, and/or alumni	66.2
Train individuals to provide support for board meetings	62.7
Fulfill conflict-of-interest responsibilities	61.4
Serve as liaison between institution and former trustees	61.4
Provide other services to trustees (e.g., arrange travel, book hotels, etc.)	59.2
Authorize use of corporate seal	51.3
Staff/support presidential/CEO search committee	49.6
Serve on university-wide committees	49.1
Propose board or institutional initiatives	47.4
Draft speeches and other remarks for board member	43.0
Staff/support senior administrative officer search efforts	42.5
Coordinate the presidential/CEO assessment process	39.0
Identify or recruit new board members	31.6
Coordinate the presidential/CEO compensation revie	24.1
Oversee/supervise university/college compliance efforts	11.0
Serve as legal counsel	2.6

Even more duties were reported in the free-response section. After adding multiple examples of responsibilities not listed in the survey questionnaire, one respondent concluded, “as well as other duties, too numerous to list.” A partial list of additional responsibilities reported by respondents included:

Accreditation (for example, serving as liaison to accrediting agencies, coordinating necessary paperwork filings)
Compliance
Emergency Preparedness
COVID-19 Response (separate from other emergency preparedness)
Risk Management (separate from emergency preparedness)
Government Relations
Community Relations (separate from government relations)
Donor Relations/Fundraising (often mentioned together)
Presidential Spouse Support
Research (often mentioned as “research special topics for president” or similar)
Special Event Planning/Management (for example, convocation or commencement)

Looking Forward: Upcoming 2024 – 2025 AGB Survey of Board Professionals

The 2020 survey iteration was fielded during Fall 2020 and a pandemic lockdown. The newest survey iteration will launch in Fall 2024 and results will be published in early 2025. This year’s survey will be separate from AGB’s Board Policies, Practices, and Composition Survey, which will launch in 2025. The intent is to give board professionals (who make up a large number of both surveys’ respondents) some breathing room between surveys.

To say much has changed both in the United States and globally from Fall 2020 to the present is considerable understatement. In 2020, the acute phase of the COVID pandemic ushered in greater reliance on virtual technology allowing people across the world, which in the academic context includes boards and board professionals, to stay connected and operational. While campuses are once again open, hybrid work, virtual meetings, and other technologies remain a part of many workplaces’ standard repertoire.

With that and the “other duties as required” answers in mind, the forthcoming survey contains new questions about whether (or if) parts of board professionals’ duties have changed as a direct result of COVID. On a more positive note, it also asks a new question—for those who choose to share—about what parts of their duties board professionals find most satisfying. A question to gauge future interest in a separate and more frequent survey of board professionals’ salary/compensation has also been added in response to member inquiries.

The survey link will be sent on October 15, 2024. Only AGB-member board professionals with current email addresses in AGB’s records will be able to log in and access the survey. Please email questions about the survey to research@agb.org. Email address updates should be directed to membership@agb.org.

Takeaways

Board professionals’ “other duties as required” vary widely depending on their institutional, system, or foundation employer’s size, sector, and mission.
The 2020 pandemic lockdown (when the last AGB Survey of Board Professionals was conducted) brought a new set of responsibilities to many board professionals. How or whether those have changed as a direct result of COVID remains to be seen.
The 2024—2025 AGB Survey of Board Professionals will launch to member board professionals on October 15, 2024. Please email questions about the survey to research@agb.org. Email address updates can be sent to membership@agb.org.

Lesley McBain, Ph.D., is the senior director of research at AGB.