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For professional staff who are linchpins for board effectiveness.
Now more than ever, we need boards that provide effective, thoughtful, and courageous oversight that advances their institutions in ways that truly matter. The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, with essential guidance from our Board Professionals Leadership Group, seeks to recognize higher education board professionals whose work has resulted in heightened board performance.
2025 NOMINATIONS ARE CLOSED
Congratulations to the 2025 Award Recipient
Melanie Morrison, MBA, Palo Alto University
Melanie Morrison, Senior Director of Board and President’s Office Operations at Palo Alto University (PAU) has been named the 2025 recipient of the AGB Distinguished Board Professional Award. Presented at AGB’s Board Professional Conference in Chicago, this honor recognizes Morrison’s outstanding leadership in advancing strategic, mission-driven governance and board engagement in higher education. Her innovative contributions at PAU—including modernizing board management and aligning trustee insight with institutional strategy—exemplify excellence in the board professional role.
Learn more about the award recipients in the press release.
Recognizing difference-makers.
For more than 50 years, AGB has played a vital role in elevating the profession of higher education board staff. Today more than ever, outstanding board professionals are called upon as critical enablers of effective board governance and institutional vitality. We are committed to recognizing their work and proliferating examples of excellence in the profession. Nominations are judged by the executive committee of AGB’s Board Professionals Leadership Group, a distinguished group of seasoned board professionals representing the spectrum of AGB membership.
Significant contributions to the profession
Exemplary service to the institution* and its governing board
Leadership in the area of board operations in support of consequential board governance
Extraordinary counsel to board leadership and/or senior staff
Actions enabling the board to constructively reimagine its focus and/or role
*Note: The term “institution” applies equally to public and private colleges, universities, multi-campus systems, coordinating boards, and institutionally related foundations.
How to apply.
Nominations are currently closed.
To be considered, board professionals should be nominated by a board officer and/or their chief executive. Otherwise, the nominator should alert the chief executive that a representative of the selection committee may contact them with questions.
Submission Process and Deadline
Submission Process
Nominations are currently closed.
Questions may be submitted via email to awards@AGB.org.
Deadline
Nominations for 2024–2025 are closed.
Eligibility and Selection
Eligibility
Any board staff person (employee) of any AGB member college, university, foundation, system, or coordinating board is eligible. Any AGB member benefits-receiving individual may submit a nomination.
Selection Process
Each year, the AGB Board Professionals Leadership Group executive committee will convene and review qualified nominations, evaluate them based on the provided criteria, and determine: a) whether to select one or more recipients in the present cycle, and b) whom to recognize with the award.
All nominees will be individually notified of their selection status no later than early December. Any individual receiving AGB member benefits may submit a nomination.
Award Details
Nominations are considered on an annual basis by the executive committee of the AGB Board Professionals Leadership Group, and the awards are presented during the AGB Board Professionals Conference.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who may be nominated for this award?
Any professional board staff person employed in service to an AGB member in good standing is eligible for this award.
What makes a compelling nomination?
The nominating form is intended to ensure a simple and efficient nominating experience. Nominators should check their submission form for completeness. Additionally, as AGB uses awards to highlight examples for learning by fellow members, nominators would be well-advised to convey not only what is remarkable or inspirational about the nominee’s work—in accordance with award criteria—but also what about their work is an example for others to follow, and why.
Current and Past Recipients
COMING SOON