Maximize your impact and effectiveness as a Chief Strategy Officer by exploring critical topics and skill building.
Overview
Higher education is at an inflection point. Small colleges have closed due to financial and enrollment challenges, there is public scrutiny over cost, curriculum, value, and the worth of a college degree, student debt is at an all-time high, and the Supreme Court is set to hear two cases related to race-based admissions practices. And for all of these issues, the Chief of Staff/Chief Strategy Officer plays a crucial role in helping to address them, yet often has a more solitary professional experience than other Vice Presidents and Cabinet members—many times working through influence rather than via large divisional and organizational chart purview.
This one-of-a-kind conference experience invites Chiefs of Staff, Chief Strategy Officers, and Chief Strategists like you to ensure that you have a data-informed and big-picture understanding of the critical issues facing higher education, and how those may impact the work by you, your President, and your institution.
To preserve an intimate and productive experience, this conference is capped at 30 attendees.
Who Should Attend
This in-person conference is designed for leaders who are tasked with leading institutional strategy, have institution-wide responsibilities, report to the President, serve on the President’s cabinet/executive team, and/or have similar responsibilities.
Examples of relevant titles may include Chief Strategy Officer, Special Advisor to the President, VP of Strategy, VP of Strategic Initiatives, and Chief of Staff.
If you are specifically charged with responsibilities like the following, this program is for you:
- Chief Strategist for the institution—leading strategic planning process and managing related initiatives
- Linking campus strategy to external opportunities
- Convening and creating alignment between and among cabinet members and other senior leaders
- Providing strategic guidance and advice to the President and/or Board
- Succession planning and leadership development at the cabinet level
- Managing relationships with the Board and external stakeholders
Save on In-Person Conference Registrations
Attend any three in-person conferences for $5,000 for Members ($5,500 for Non-Members) – or $1,667 dollars per registration for Members ($1,833 for Non-Members) – with a Conference 3-Pack. There's no one way to use your 3-Pack!
- Send 3 people to the same conference
- Send 3 individuals to different conferences
- Experience 3 different conferences yourself
Follow Through With Success Coaching
Have you ever gone to a training only to find that you came back with great ideas but don’t have the time, support, or skills needed to make the changes?
Academic Impressions has produced thousands of trainings and we have learned that utilizing a coach after attending a conference helps provide accountability and bridges the training with the on-the-ground work of getting the job done.
As a result, we are now offering success coaching on select conferences.
- Purchase this training + 3 one hour follow up success coaching calls
- Work with an assigned coach who has extensive experience in higher ed.
- Get individualized support to help you follow through on what you’ve learned.
- Workshop your plans, run your ideas by someone and get additional help/practice.
To get success coaching, simply purchase the Conference and add Success Coaching during registration.
AGENDA
Your registration fee includes full access to all conference sessions and materials, breakfast, lunch, and access to the networking reception on Monday, breakfast on Tuesday, as well as refreshments and snacks throughout the conference.
8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. CT (local time in New Orleans, LA)
Registration and Continental Breakfast (included in registration fee)
8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Opening Comments and Introductions
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Critical Topics in Higher Education
9:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Higher education is at an inflection point. In this first session, we will lay the groundwork for equipping you to serve as strategic liaison for your President, Board, and colleagues by getting a wide scan of the full scope of internal and external pressures. We will start by exploring key issues facing higher education today to help you reflect which forces are at play for your institution. Topics identified by the group will likely span across marketing, enrollment, advancement, legal and board, COVID lessons, mental health, demographics, and innovative technology, to name a few.
Morning Break
10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
First-Team Mindset
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m
Who do you identify as your ‘first team’ in your role? Having a first-team mindset where you prioritize your fellow leaders over direct reports allows for all members of the executive team to lead collectively with a big-picture, strategic view of the organization as a shared top priority rather than by focusing on their respective areas/divisions. We will explore this concept, how it can build trust and collaboration in the work of the chief strategist, and the pitfalls when this is mindset is not the expectation across the whole team.
Lunch (included in registration fee)
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Diagnostic Discussions: How to Apply Learning to Your Campus
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
In this session, you’ll have the opportunity to diagnose your campus circumstances and go deeper into some of the hot topics from the opening session, “Critical Topics in Higher Education.” You will spend valuable time, separately, with each of our expert facilitators, in two back-to-back, small-group 45-minute discussions. For each of the 45-minute sessions, you will leverage insight shared by participants to explore specific and actionable steps you can take to your own campus.
Afternoon Break
2:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Leading Through Influence: The President/Strategist Relationship
2:45 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
A chief strategist’s relationship with a president needs to be a relationship built on trust. Sometimes buffering the president from campus activities, while at other times needing to be the bearer of bad news, the chief needs to be able to move in harmony with the president while still remaining inpdependent. The chief of staff may do a lot of “invisible” work behind the scenes to solve problems, tamp down issues, and tee up the big wins for the president. This session will walk through the different potential dyad models while demonstrating effective ways to strengthen and enrich this critical leadership partnership.
Networking Reception (included in registration fee)
4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
This informal reception is your chance to decompress at the end of a long Day One, have some refreshments on us, and continue expanding your network of connections. Our programs are intentionally designed for smaller groups, so this is a great time to catch up with the speakers and other attendees whom you may not have connected with yet throughout the day.
8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. CT (local time in New Orleans, LA)
Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Group Activity: Solutions Round Robin
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
To build on the topic scan of Day One, you will have the opportunity to be supported and to support others as we talk about the tools and tricks of the trade that help get things done. In the solutions clinic, you will learn from examples shared by the program facilitators and your colleagues. You will walk away with a repository for templates, resources, and other items that can help you to build efficiency and advocacy in this work long after the conference ends.
Morning Break
10:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Take the Learning Back to Campus
10:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
We’ll end our time together with space for you to reflect on what you’ve learned and how to create a roadmap of next steps for yourself and your institution. What areas have emerged as new priorities? Which situations necessitate preparation on your part and why? How can this experience be carried forward in your role? How can we sustain the network of support created during the conference when we head back to our own campuses?
Conference Wrap-Up and Final Q&A
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
LOCATION
Renaissance New Orleans Pere Marquette French Quarter Area Hotel
Address: 817 Common Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70112
Room rate: $155.00
Room block dates: June 25th and June 26th
Room block cutoff date: June 2, 2023
SPEAKERS
Amy Morton
Amy is a skilled educational leader who has served in diversified cabinet-level roles in academic institutions and in the for-profit sector. A dynamic executive known for a collaborative approach, an analytical mindset, and a bias for action, she brings more than 25 years of business leadership to her work. As a highly successful product, marketing, and communications leader, and as a teacher, advocate, and professional development consultant, she is passionate about student success and about elevating the stature of educational institutions in the world.
Brian G. Williams, D.M.
Chief of Staff, Roger Williams University
Brian became the Chief of Staff at Roger Williams University in Fall 2020 after a year serving as Interim Chief of Staff & Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing. He initially joined Roger Williams as the Vice President of Enrollment Management and Marketing in 2017. Prior to his work at Roger Williams, he served as Vice President for Enrollment & Institutional Analytics at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio and as Dean of Enrollment Services at Providence College.
PRICING
Save on In-Person Conference Registrations with a Conference 3-Pack
Attend any three in-person conferences for $5,000 for Members ($5,500 for Non-Members) – or $1,667 dollars per registration for Members ($1,833 for Non-Members) – with a Conference 3-Pack. There's no one way to use your 3-Pack!
Send 3 people to the same conference | Send 3 individuals to different conferences | Experience 3 different conferences yourself
ACADEMIC IMPRESSIONS MEMBERS
$2,095 $1,745
through June 16, 2023
Members get $250 OFF.
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- 3 one hour follow up success coaching calls
- Work with an assigned coach who has extensive experience in higher ed
- Get individualized support to help you follow through on what you've learned
- Workshop your plans, run your ideas by someone and get additional help/practice
NON-MEMBERS
$2,095 $1,995
through June 16, 2023
Get access to THIS conference.
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- 3 one hour follow up success coaching calls
- Work with an assigned coach who has extensive experience in higher ed
- Get individualized support to help you follow through on what you've learned
- Workshop your plans, run your ideas by someone and get additional help/practice
Become a Member
Save $250 on this event and get 100s of online trainings FREE with membership!
Can't attend the conference? Buy the binder.
Questions About the Event?
Amy Giordano
Senior Learning & Development Manager,
Academic Impressions