President's Corner - Chris Murphy
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President’s Corner
Chris Murphy
January 2018
Wow! Where did it go? It is hard for me to believe that 2017 has come and gone, and 2018 is here. I know most community colleges are on a fiscal year that does not coincide with the calendar year, but at this time, it is always good to reflect on the past year. What could or should have I done differently? If anything, what did I learn from it? That is the key – learning. Learning is not just something we do while in school, learning is a life-long process; it is, or should be, never ending. So, for 2018, I challenge you to learn. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from your successes. Learn from everything you do.
CCBO promotes learning for all community college business officers. As members of CCBO, we have a network of fellow business officers to lean on and learn from. Together, we’re better. I hope you view your membership in CCBO as I do: as a very valuable resource of community college business officers across this nation and beyond who are more than willing and quite certainly more than able to help a fellow business officer. That is the reason it is so important to grow our membership. Our Board of Directors and national office staff have had many meaningful discussions about CCBO and its future, and the bottom line is membership. We continue to set a goal of increased membership, and this year, each and every board member has committed to step up to help the organization to reach its goal. Now, I ask you, as members, to help us in this endeavor. If you know business officers at other community colleges who are not members, I encourage you to give them a call and discuss with them the benefits of membership CCBO, whether it is the Annual Conference, the Leadership Academy, the professional development webinars, and/or the network of other business officers. If you are a member and don’t know about all the benefits of CCBO, I encourage you to reach out to any board member (including me, of course!) or the national office staff to learn more.
As mentioned, one of the benefits of CCBO is the Leadership Academy. Our CCBO Leadership Academy is the only leadership academy dedicated to community college business officers. It is a great professional develop program designed to help prepare business officers for advancement to the Chief Business Officer position. I am proud to say that I am a graduate of the Leadership Academy, as are many of our current board members. I would strongly encourage you to send a representative from your college to participate in the Leadership Academy. I had the pleasure of speaking, alongside Debbie Walker, Vice President of Business Affairs at Midlands Technical College in Columbia, SC, during a session of the Leadership Academy set-up as a conversation with current chief business officers. It was such a delight conversing with the participates, and it gave me a renewed hope in in the future of our organization, because these Leadership Academy participants were so very bright, so energetic, so passionate about what they were doing, that it made me realize how fortunate their respective colleges are to have them on their team, and how fortunate CCBO is to have them involved in our great organization.
In closing, I urge you to meet me in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Sheraton Grand Phoenix Downtown September 29 through October 2, 2018. The Leadership Academy will be held on Saturday and Sunday, September 29th-30th, while the Annual Conference kicks-off Sunday afternoon and goes through Tuesday, October 2nd. More details regarding the conference will be released soon. I look forward to seeing you all there.
Chris Murphy
January 2018
Wow! Where did it go? It is hard for me to believe that 2017 has come and gone, and 2018 is here. I know most community colleges are on a fiscal year that does not coincide with the calendar year, but at this time, it is always good to reflect on the past year. What could or should have I done differently? If anything, what did I learn from it? That is the key – learning. Learning is not just something we do while in school, learning is a life-long process; it is, or should be, never ending. So, for 2018, I challenge you to learn. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from your successes. Learn from everything you do.
CCBO promotes learning for all community college business officers. As members of CCBO, we have a network of fellow business officers to lean on and learn from. Together, we’re better. I hope you view your membership in CCBO as I do: as a very valuable resource of community college business officers across this nation and beyond who are more than willing and quite certainly more than able to help a fellow business officer. That is the reason it is so important to grow our membership. Our Board of Directors and national office staff have had many meaningful discussions about CCBO and its future, and the bottom line is membership. We continue to set a goal of increased membership, and this year, each and every board member has committed to step up to help the organization to reach its goal. Now, I ask you, as members, to help us in this endeavor. If you know business officers at other community colleges who are not members, I encourage you to give them a call and discuss with them the benefits of membership CCBO, whether it is the Annual Conference, the Leadership Academy, the professional development webinars, and/or the network of other business officers. If you are a member and don’t know about all the benefits of CCBO, I encourage you to reach out to any board member (including me, of course!) or the national office staff to learn more.
As mentioned, one of the benefits of CCBO is the Leadership Academy. Our CCBO Leadership Academy is the only leadership academy dedicated to community college business officers. It is a great professional develop program designed to help prepare business officers for advancement to the Chief Business Officer position. I am proud to say that I am a graduate of the Leadership Academy, as are many of our current board members. I would strongly encourage you to send a representative from your college to participate in the Leadership Academy. I had the pleasure of speaking, alongside Debbie Walker, Vice President of Business Affairs at Midlands Technical College in Columbia, SC, during a session of the Leadership Academy set-up as a conversation with current chief business officers. It was such a delight conversing with the participates, and it gave me a renewed hope in in the future of our organization, because these Leadership Academy participants were so very bright, so energetic, so passionate about what they were doing, that it made me realize how fortunate their respective colleges are to have them on their team, and how fortunate CCBO is to have them involved in our great organization.
In closing, I urge you to meet me in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Sheraton Grand Phoenix Downtown September 29 through October 2, 2018. The Leadership Academy will be held on Saturday and Sunday, September 29th-30th, while the Annual Conference kicks-off Sunday afternoon and goes through Tuesday, October 2nd. More details regarding the conference will be released soon. I look forward to seeing you all there.
