October 2017 EDUCAUSE Board of Directors Meeting

The EDUCAUSE board held its last face-to-face meeting of 2017 on October 30 in Philadelphia, PA, the week of the EDUCAUSE annual conference. The meeting was a shorter, one-day meeting, which will be followed on December 19 by a virtual board meeting to finalize 2018 organizational goals and to approve the 2018 budget and the three-year planning budget.

This meeting is always bittersweet, as we say goodbye to board members who have completed their service. This year we said goodbye to board chair Tracy Schroeder, board treasurer Bill Hogue, and board members Eric Denna and Diane Graves. Thank you to these excellent board members who have given countless hours of service on behalf of EDUCAUSE members. Special thanks are due to Tracy for serving as chair during this very busy year that saw the implementation of the new membership model and the first year of our five-year strategic priorities.

The sweet part is welcoming a new group of remarkable board members to begin their service:

These fantastic new board members join the following board members:

At this meeting the board also conducted elections for its executive officers. Jack Suess from University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will serve as chair; Michele Norin from Rutgers University as vice chair; Kay Rhodes from Texas Tech University System as treasurer; and Barron Koralesky from Williams College as secretary. Thank you to those who were nominated for the board. For those interested in joining this great group of leaders, nominations for 2018 board elections are now open. Please nominate yourself or an extraordinary colleague.

While this was a shorter meeting, the board worked through a number of important topics. As we usually do at the October meeting, we shared with the board a preview of the annual conference to be held later in the week. We reported on the very strong level of attendance for this year, with folks from every state, DC, and Puerto Rico and with nearly 500 from 40+ countries around the world. We shared our excitement about many items of note this year, including EDUCAUSE Central (a place for collaboration and networking . . . and foot massages), more sessions on elements of diversity, equity, and inclusion than ever before, and a great lineup of keynote and featured speakers, as well as 400+ other sessions on relevant topics of interest to our members. This year we also welcomed our largest number of provosts, including 32 Digital Fellows brought together by the Association of Chief Academic Officers. I mentioned that this year, attendees will see the beginnings of our focus on a "personalized member experience" (our first strategic priority) with suggested conference itineraries based on roles (CIO, CISO, academic leader, etc.) and with a new app function that lets users check to see if a session is full or not before heading out to attend it.

In anticipation of final approval of the EDUCAUSE goals for 2018, we presented to the board our proposed priorities for the year, including high-level 18-month objectives that advance our three strategic priorities, with special focus on our second priority, "reimagined professional learning." Meaghan Duff, the new EDUCAUSE senior director for professional learning, presented the 2017–2021 professional learning strategy:

• The guiding principles for this work: delivering on our strategic priorities to develop a successful, high-quality professional learning program that addresses the needs of today's IT professionals
• Feedback gathered during the August 2017 expert panel on "Reimagining Professional Learning" and analysis of the current portfolio of programs
• The proposed professional learning plan, which focuses on rebuilding and improvement in 2017 and 2018 and emphasizes reinvention and personalization in 2019 and 2020
• A recommended staffing model and assessment of the organizational dependencies throughout EDUCAUSE (e.g., marketing, conferences and events, IT) required to implement the plan successfully

We also spent some time at this board meeting discussing the contributions of the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) and how ELI's teaching and learning focus can best support our community in the future.

And the board attended to its fiduciary role, carefully reviewing financial reports. CFO Stacy Ruwe presented the EDUCAUSE finances, noting that our finances remain healthy, with a balanced budget for 2017 and strong reserves, as required by board policy.

I am additionally pleased to report that at this meeting we were able to share with the board the successful rollout of our new EDUCAUSE member model. The new member model was designed to be simplified, modernized, revenue neutral and financially viable, and equitable. We believe the model accomplishes these goals, removing separate subscription fees for ELI and ECAR so that these services can be accessed equally by all members. Membership renewals are tracking at 94 percent of last year, well in excess of our retention goal for the year. We welcomed 143 institutions that joined EDUCAUSE for the first time this year to experience this expanded value — as well as 57 institutions that rejoined after some time away. Even though we exceeded our retention goals, we deeply regret losing any member institutions, and we will be working hard in the next months to earn them back.

As we have been doing regularly at EDUCAUSE board meetings, we enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about a specific higher education sector to help us understand how to ensure that we are meeting the unique needs of our members. At this meeting, Kim Cassidy, president of Bryn Mawr College, joined us for an illuminating discussion about the liberal arts sector of higher education. Kim was joined by Gina Siesing, Bryn Mawr CIO and director of libraries.

Finally, I shared with the board that later in November, EDUCAUSE employees would gather for our second annual "home week." With almost 60 percent of our wonderful staff based in Louisville, CO, and the others located all around the United States, this is a much anticipated and thoroughly enjoyed opportunity to make and refresh personal connections, engage in strategic conversations, and conduct training and staff development. Here we all are!

For more information about EDUCAUSE finances, the member model, and many other topics, view the meeting recording of the December 1, 2017, annual EDUCAUSE business meeting.

John O'Brien is President and CEO of EDUCAUSE.