President's Corner - Chris Murphy

Greetings CCBO Members!

I can’t believe it is already July! The summer is flying by. I hope you have had a little time to slow down and recharge your batteries with a vacation or have one planned, even though the summer is one of the busiest times for community college administrative offices. The fall semester will be here before we know it.

There have been some changes in the CCBO Board recently. Congratulations go out to Michael Heindl of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, who was recently named president of Northwest Mississippi Community College and had to step down from the CCBO board as President-Elect. Michael was a very valuable member of the CCBO leadership team, and his leadership and guidance will be missed. Alisha Fox, Cleveland State Community College (Tennessee) has moved up to fill his role, and Sharon Davis, has agreed to replace Alisha as the Vice President for Regional Services.

Just a side note – in my six years of being involved with CCBO, I have had the privilege of seeing four of my CCBO friends become community college presidents. There may be others, but these are four I know personally. Two of those are Leadership Academy graduates, and one is the former LA Dean. To me, this just goes to show how important being involved in CCBO can be. I firmly believe these four colleagues I call friends benefited from their involvement in CCBO during their rise to the presidency. As my motto has been this year, "Together, We’re better!" Please support CCBO, as it is the only national and international organization exclusively serving community colleges of which I am aware.

I’d like to remind everyone that registration for the 36th CCBO Annual Conference is still open. This year’s conference is shaping up to be a great one. Early bird registration ends July 20th, so please take advantage of the reduced rates and save $100 per registrant and register by July 20th. The conference will take place Sunday, September 30 through Tuesday, October 2, 2018, at the Sheraton Grand Phoenix Downtown in Phoenix, Arizona. As always, the Leadership Academy will kick-off the Annual Conference activities on Saturday morning, September 29th and end at lunch on Sunday, September 30th. As a graduate of the Leadership Academy, I can tell you it is a phenomenal way to help emerging leaders learn more about community colleges, especially as they relate to the Chief Business Officer role. The Leadership Academy Dean is Brad McCormick of John A. Logan College in Illinois, and the Assistant Dean is Paige Childs from Piedmont Technical College in South Carolina.

You can click here to register and book your hotel room.

I look forward to seeing each of you at the annual conference. Until then, best wishes for a great summer.