AGB OnBoard Revolutionizes Board Meetings with Technology
With nearly 100 years’ experience in board rooms, AGB is transforming meeting experiences and helping institutions go beyond traditional communication methods.
With the recent call for boardroom digitization, AGB moved forward to offer its members a unique and affordable board management platform specifically designed to address higher education’s unique challenges. After a nine-month vetting process, AGB decided to partner with Passageways and in April 2018 launched AGB OnBoard. Since then, adoption has been quick with more than 120 institutions making the move to the new digital environment.
Board management software has revolutionized the way boards conduct board meetings. It not only drastically reduces the time board professionals and other staff members spend creating, assembling, modifying, and presenting board books, but also reduces the time board members spend on board books from days and weeks to mere hours.
Council of Presidents Met in Washington, D.C.
AGB’s Council of Presidents held their annual meeting on October 28–29, 2019, in Washington, D.C. This invitational meeting for presidents of AGB member institutions focused on issues of importance to them and invited them to share their views on topics that AGB should address in the coming year. The presidents also received a timely federal policy update from the U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary of Postsecondary Education Robert L. King and information on the recently filed amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA. Representatives from Deloitte provided an economic forecast and insights on technology, data analytics, and risk intelligence.
The Guardians Initiative’s Business of Higher Education Brief
AGB finished its social media campaign, “Higher Education and the Cost of College,” in October, which aimed to explain the complexity and nuance in paying for higher education. Drawing from the AGB Guardians Brief, The Business of Higher Education, as well as the 2018 AGB Trustee Index, AGB also included other informative examples from the higher education community, such as the State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) Report, the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) website, and the College Board. Find more information about the value of higher education the cost of college at www.agb.org/Guardians or @AGBInsights on Twitter.
Podcast on the Role of University Research
AGB has released another episode of Trusteeship Radio, the AGB podcast. This episode, focused on the value of university research, highlights why university research is important to students, the economy, and society at large. Academic research played a role in some of the most transformative technologies today in medicine, communications, and a host of other fields and disciplines. However, skepticism of higher education and budget cuts are cause for concern, encouraging policymakers and the public alike to question the value of university research. To speak on this important topic, AGB interviewed Norman Augustine, former regent of the University of Maryland system and former CEO of Lockheed Martin, as well as former Emory University President James Wagner, who explained how board members can be good advocates for research. Find all AGB podcast episodes at www.agb.org/podcast.
NEW STAFF
Christina Jacobs has 25 years of marketing and communications experience spanning membership, subscriptions and consulting services for corporate governance, IT, and telecom industries. Expertise includes all marketing disciplines leveraging digital and traditional strategies and channels to drive business growth and engagement. Jacobs brings proven success in growing membership, consulting, and search for governing boards to her role as the vice president of marketing and strategic communications for AGB.
Robert Waters, PhD, is coming to AGB after serving as dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Excelsior College. In this role, he launched the program from the ground up to serve 2,700 students across seven graduate programs. Prior to that role, Waters served as dean of the School of Public Service at Excelsior College, president for academic affairs for the Institute for Shipboard Education/Semester at Sea, associate vice president for academic affairs and assistant to the president at the University of Maryland (UMD), and a variety of other roles at the UMD, the University of San Francisco, and Spelman College. He joins AGB as the vice president of experiential programming and partnerships.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
The 2020 Foundation Leadership Forum will be held in San Diego, California, from January 26–28, 2020. Registration is open now.
The 2020 winter Institutes for Board Chairs and Presidents of Independent Colleges and Universities will be held January 9–11, 2020 in Naples, Florida and January 16–18, 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona.
The 2020 National Conference on Trusteeship will be held in Washington, D.C., from
April 5–7, 2020. Registration is open now.
The 2020 Institute for Board Chairs & Presidents—Independent Schools and the Institute for Foundation Board Leaders and Chief Executives for Public Universities and Systems will be held June 22–24, 2020 in Aspen, Colorado.