From the time I began elementary school I approached the new school year with excitement and a sense of purpose. Even as a trustee of my alma mater, I appreciated that each new academic year provided an opportunity to learn better ways to execute my trustee responsibilities.
During my eight years on the board of Randolph College, trustees and the president of Randolph took steps to move the board toward one both consequential and strategic. In the current environment of skepticism about the value of a college education, we recognized the importance of good communications, not only on the board, but also with staff, students, faculty, and alumnae and alumni. We worked cooperatively with these constituencies to share information, such as articles about higher education, and to identify and address areas of potential enterprise risk. Because we determined early in my time as a trustee that we wanted our board to be active and consequential, we had robust discussions and debates from the first meeting every fall through winter retreats and the spring meeting, as well as on conference calls in between. We used consent agendas for routine matters and reserved the bulk of our time for consideration of key issues.
As chair of the board, I considered our fall board meeting the equivalent of the beginning of the academic year. Our board averages 25 trustees per year. Based on our fiscal year, up to five seasoned board members leave our board each June and a similar number of new trustees join every July 1. Our trustees are elected to four-year terms and most choose to stay for a second term.
Our fall meeting was often when the majority of our board members met new trustees. The board of Randolph College (and of its predecessor, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College) has historically been composed primarily of alumnae of the college, as well as family members of alumnae and alumni. We also have trustees from the local community and throughout the country who share the mission of the college and have a commitment to serve. Even alums and community members familiar with the college may not be prepared for the breadth of issues that governance of a college involves, nor be aware of the distinctions between governance and management.
Orienting new trustees to the board responsibilities, college management and governance structure, and faculty responsibilities and concerns rests with the Committee on Trustees, as well as with faculty, staff, and administration. But all trustees engage in the process of integrating new trustees onto the board. The formal orientation occurs on campus immediately before the fall board meeting, but informal communications occur over the full year.
As much as I eagerly approached fall board meetings, I also felt the loss of trustees who had retired, whose wise counsel everyone relied upon, and whose incisive question could cut to the heart of an issue. I came to realize that new trustees brought needed strengths and skills and took their responsibilities as board members as seriously as those trustees who retired. What the new trustees lacked in historical background, they made up for in fresh and diverse perspectives, energy, and the same commitment that all of our trustees demonstrated.
One fall meeting, we had multiple new trustees and the topic under consideration required us to establish certain financial priorities. True to their oaths as trustees, the new trustees weighed in, rejecting the old and discredited advice to new trustees to wait until the second year to speak. Each had a vote and wanted her vote to be informed, not to simply follow the majority. Each insisted that we permit adequate time for discussion, regardless of the agenda’s estimated time. One of many lessons in this experience was that I needed to be more conscious of issues that the board would consider at an upcoming meeting, and more conscientious about identifying documents and data to assist new trustees in preparing for the meeting and the issues under consideration.
The diversity of backgrounds, life experiences, philosophies, and personalities of new trustees each year both strengthened our board and presented challenges. Every year we sought a balance on the board so that we always had trustees with expertise in higher education, finance, business, law, philanthropy, the sciences, and the arts. Equally important to the health and strength of the board, and likewise to the health and the strength of the college, was having trustees who embodied the characteristics of honor, intelligence, rigor, patience, respect, curiosity, ethics, optimism, resilience, humility, kindness, and empathy. We tried to anticipate when one trustee’s retirement would leave us without the expertise in an area critical to our mission. We sought out and recruited candidates who could provide the insight and knowledge we needed, mitigating the loss of that expertise through retirement.
To preserve institutional memory and strengthen continuity, we invited members of the board who had served two full terms to return to the board after at least two years off the board. This enhanced our ability to integrate members with board leadership experience, historical perspective, and openness to change with trustees new to board service and the Randolph experience.
With each new academic year, we built on thoughtful and intentional planning and preparation that helped our board address the needs of Randolph and make critical governance decisions to guide the Randolph community.
Cathy Havener Greer served as the chair of the Randolph College Board of Trustees from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2019.
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