System Boards as Catalysts for Strategic Change

Systems are the future of public higher education, since they have the comprehensive scope and scale required to meet the challenges confronting the sector. For systems to play this critical role, however, fundamental changes are required in how they are imagined, governed, and operated. Systems must begin to think, organize, and act as unified, aligned entities, instead of loose confederations, and system boards must lead the way in making the necessary organizational changes.

Attend this webinar to gain insight on how public system boards can assess and improve their readiness to lead transformative change, whatever the particulars of the strategic change efforts may be. This discussion is about the analysis and actions, the preliminary work a board should complete before it undertakes the strategic reimagining and restructuring many systems will require. The panelists, Barbara Brittingham and Jim Page, present a process for identifying board strengths and weaknesses that are central to its ability to lead strategic change in tandem with their system heads. They emphasize how to develop action plans to address high-priority board capacity gaps and what to do if a gap cannot be closed.

Moderator:

James E. Lyons Sr., PhD, senior consultant, AGB

Panelists:

Barbara Brittingham, PhD, president emerita, New England Commission of Higher Education; board member, National Student Clearinghouse; adviser, Transformational Partnerships Fund
James H. Page, PhD, chancellor emeritus, University of Maine System