December 2019 EDUCAUSE Board of Directors Meeting

On December 19, 2019, the EDUCAUSE Board of Directors met to finalize some work from the current year and to kick things off for 2020. This shorter virtual meeting was scheduled to handle a few select items before the end of the year: the election of board officers for 2020; review and approval of not only the 2020 budget and the three-year budget but also our 2020 organizational goals; consideration of a series of changes to the board committee structure.

The meeting began with Board Chair Michele Norin welcoming new board members Amelia Parnell, Michael Berman, and Mark Roman to their first board meeting.

As business began, and following an open nomination process, a slate of officers was voted on by the board and unanimously approved. The 2020 board officers are as follows:

EDUCAUSE Vice President for Business Services and Chief Financial Officer Stacy Ruwe presented the 2020 budget documents. Ruwe reviewed the three-year operating budget with the board. Following a brief discussion, it was unanimously approved.

I then presented the board with an overview of the organizational goals for 2020 and recapped the board's discussion to date, including the recent review and support by an ad hoc subcommittee of the board. I highlighted that the goals were developed using a new framework that featured greater staff involvement. Both the board and the staff are excited about the results of this new process, which has resulted in goals that are more strategic and less operational but are still mapped to our existing strategic priorities and are unwaveringly member-focused.

Norin next reviewed the proposed changes to board committees—changes that had been provided to the directors in advance. These include the addition of a governance committee and the assignment of each member to serve on a committee. Following a review of previously submitted questions, as well as a brief discussion, the board unanimously voted to approve these changes. The four board standing committees are the Executive Committee, Finance and Investment Committee, Audit Committee, and Governance Committee. Updated/new charters for each of these committees have been developed and are currently under review. It is expected that they will be approved at the February Board meeting and posted online for the membership soon after.

With business complete, Norin took time to recognize Raechelle (Rae) Clemmons. Transitioning to a new position in the private sector (but still working within higher education), Rae was stepping down from her role as an EDUCAUSE Board member and attending her last meeting. Norin highlighted Rae's tremendous contributions, including her instrumental work on the DEI Task Force. I particularly thank her for being the inspiration of the EDUCAUSE CIO's Commitment on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We all expressed our sincere gratitude and offered our best wishes to Rae. She will be missed.

The board's first meeting of 2020 will be held in Washington, DC, on February 25 and 26.

Note: As always, more detail on this and other board meetings can be found in the official board minutes, which are archived here.

John O'Brien is President and CEO of EDUCAUSE.