Acting Chair Mazzochi calls the meeting to order.

Pledge of Allegiance.

Notes that BoT will follow up on all questions, but some may need to be addressed in closed session.

Notes that the BoT would like feedback on all proceedings.

Co-moderator Professor Glen Hansen introduces the evening’s candidate, Dr. David Sam.

Dr. Sam thanks audience. Adds to his bio that  1988-1990 he was a faculty member at COD. That was very important to me.

My vision for COD — I am going to disappoint you. That statement is incomplete. I do not have any input from students, faculty and staff at the college. How can I have a vision for this college without input from these segments and the community? I have an incomplete vision to talk about.

But I will talk to you about building blocks for this vision so at least I will try to talk while recognizing at I don’t have anything yet from you.  I need information from students as to what should be in the vision and to underscore why I am saying it is incomplete — this college has its own institutional philosophy. (Reads from COD’s mission ) COD has a shared vision. I want to talk about a shared vision, not my personal vision (reads again from COD’s mission statement)

I have a couple of proxies that will help me come up with a vision. I looked at the COD student newspaper, the Courier, where it talks about what students wants from a new president.

Should have experience working in higher ed.   I have 30 years in higher ed. I have close to 20 years now as college president. So yes, i am someone with experience.

(Continues to read from student editorial in the Courier)

“Must have glowing recommendations from previous employers.”  I extend to you the invitation to contact any member of the Elgin BoT. I recognize that presidents must collaborate with the Board. I have done that at Elgin for the last 9 years. We have achieved some fantastic things. For example the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found us, because of parameters we set up, and we were able to achieve certain things.

I was trained as  diplomat. I have tact and diplomacy. People form the Fletcher ? School of diplomacy go out and solve things.

“Must retain a good relationship between us and faculty.”  Hello students (waves at students) I will get in your face! I will go bowling with you. I will see you at basketball games.  Call Elgin and talk to the students. They know me. I’ve shown up at all places where they have events.  Btw, I have heard you have a wonderful softball team. (Calls out to the softball and basketball coaches).

“Students should feel like they know the president or at least know what he or she looks like.”

Students and faculty should feel like they can approach the president.”  I am approachable.

“Students should feel that their opinions are considered.”  I want to establish a relationship with you and get your input.

“The president needs to be active in the COD Community.”  Oh boy, I do not watch t.v. I am in the community all the time and I love it.  Our name is COMMUNITY college. You will see me in the community.

“The president is to really care about students and faculty.”  I have some supporters here tonight — Professor Emeritus Edwin Thomas, just retired from ECC –(calls out to Professor Thomas who is in the audience)

“One thing we don’t have to worry about — they are going to determined they are entering a school with some serious problems that need to be resolved immediately. Probation is one of them.” Yes, that is a serious matter.  Probation is a serious thing and should not be at COD, which stands for College of Distinction.

It’s not a one-shot deal, solving probation — we need to change the environment here.

“There must be trust. Honesty, trust and forgiveness.” The first thing the new president must do is earn back our trust.

I’ve read many of the stories.  Hopefully students I would not keep you waiting too long for that. It is important to regain trust.

Here is another proxy — the resolution by faculty.  (refers from faculty vision for the new president)

I am modest. I am not going to say that I am the paragon of honesty and integrity. Go instead to hear from the colleges where I have worked and ask them. I will sign off for anybody to review my personnel file.

“Treat all members of the college and community with respect.”

“Have the courage to remove ineffectual leaders” I have done that before.

I am seeking input for you already for the shared vision.

“Foster excellence in academic programs.”

I am going to tell you some of the things that are going to be very important in putting together this shared vision. COD wants to be the primary college for district residents.

Mission — it is ok. COD “will be a center of excellence for teaching, learning and cultural experiences for this district by providing affordable, accessible and comprehensive education.”

Shared values — also part of this vision. integrity, honesty, respect and responsibility. These will all be part of the shared vision.

And finally, institutional philosophy. “COD believes in the power of teaching and learning.” COD embraces excellence. Everything it should do will be excellent. COD values diversity. I will add to that.  Inclusion and equity are part of diversity. We must have that. COD believes in the participation of everyone in the planning. COD believes that the college will be of value to students and the community.

As the president , we will rededicate ourselves to the primacy of teaching and learning. As the president, we will make sure that the students that come here achieve their dreams. As the president we will rededicate to forming partnerships in the community with governmental agencies, to a higher level, rededicate ourselves to partnership with K-12 so more and more students will be ready when they get to this campus. Rededicate to students coming here seamlessly and seamlessly transferring.

My vision will have a few more things. Every student that leaves here will be as good or better than any student that graduates from any other community college. They will be as good or better than the students who started at four-year institutions. We’ll make sure that when employers are talking about their best employees, they talk about COD graduates.

The status quo will not be acceptable. We have to change things. I will work with every single person affiliated with the institution to achieve that we move COD to the next level.

It will be the new era. The new era of COD, College of Excellence. We have to get our SWAG back, in the language of the millennials. We have lost it a little bit.

I’ll stop there so you can ask questions.

Question: What are the three non-career accomplishments that you are proud of?

DS: 3 directly related to COD. When I was here, my daughter was born. That is an accomplishment. She is a 26 year old lady. Her name is Michelle.

I became a citizen of this great country when I was working here at COD. That is not so easy. You don’t just walk into that.  I still have the card I got from people here congratulating me on getting citizenship.

I finished my doctoral degree while I was here at COD. I had to defend it shortly after I left here. That is an accomplishment!

Question: Why did you leave COD? Why do you think you are the best person to leave the college today in spite of its problems.

I left City Colleges of Chicago and was fortunate to land the position here at COD. I loved it. Shortly after I left City colleges, my supervisor at CC went to Michigan. She called me and said “I have a position here, Dean of Sciences”  I told her I didn’t want to leave. A year later she called again and said David that position is still open. It looks like you. Then she asked me — what will you be doing in 6 years? I told her, I will be tenured, I’ll still be enjoying my classes at COD.  She said no, in 6 years, you’ll be a college president. I had never thought about this. I thought that seemed interesting. And so I applied, went there, and left COD. When I left COD, the reception I had when leaving was such that I said to myself that I hoped to have the opportunity to return to COD some day. I went to Michigan for 2 years. Then she left Michigan! So she called and said, “David, I have a position that looks like you. VP of Academic Affairs.” So I followed her there. And as she said, 6 years later, I became a college president!

30 years of community college experience. 20 at a presidential level. 4 years as chief academic officer. One year as Acting VP for Business and Finance. one year as Acting VP for student services. the last 9 years reporting to a Board. Also, but don’t start joking, I am also a lawyer.

I think my credentials, experiences and my understanding of Illinois — I understand what is happening here. My affinity for this College — I started my career here. All these things make me a good candidate.

Question: You used to work here. What if you found that former colleagues had been involved in wrongdoings?

DS –The college is bigger than any one person. Any former colleagues, if there has been any wrongdoings, we will correct them. If they are criminal — they will come for you and you will be gone. I am an officer of the court here, as an attorney, so I have an extra layer of things I have to do. If there have been wrongdoings, I will make sure they are addressed.

Question: Describe at least t3 steps you would take to improve t  COD with our district and improve our relationship

Engagement. We have to engage the community. Hear them out. I would go on the road and go to different organizations. I would go firsthand to solicit ideas. Put out my own ideas about how to earn the trust of individuals. There is fence mending, healing that we need to do. We must involve everyone in that process of earning trust that we have lost over a period of time. We will do the right things, and do them right. The community will see that there is a change in what we do and gradually we will be able to build the trust that has been eroded. There will be transparency. We will put out information. People will see a big difference with me as president.

Q: What do you think about the proliferation of adjuncts in higher education?

DS- Adjuncts play a very important role. In the 70s we used to talk about 70% full time, then it changed, and now there are many places where more than 50% are taught by adjuncts. Adjuncts are very important for what we do. But even if we had all the money to hire full-timers, I would insist on hiring adjuncts. They bring something to the classroom that is fresh. They bring things that happened right at work that day. They are a conduit for job opportunities for our students. We have to work hard to maintain a good and healthy balance between f/t and adjunct faculty.  We need to develop curriculum, create programs, things that adjuncts do not have time to do. We must have a balance. They are two groups, but they are really one group. They deliver all instruction.

Q: What have you done at ECC to deal with the budget impasse, and what would you do differently at COD?

DS– It is an illusion that if the budget impasse could be solved everything would be better. We would not have the money to do everything even if the impasse were solved. So let’s look at the budget as if we were at our own kitchen table — imagine if we are 7,000 in debt. We are hungry, frustrated. In the mailbox we have another 2,000. We know that. We don’t even want to go and open up the mailbox.  And we haven’t even included credit cards in that debt. Let’s say that the credit card debt is 10,000.  Then you look at your checkbook and see you have only 100 dollars.

The impasse is important, but let me talk a little bit here about this. This fall many students are going to make a decision about which institution are going to. They know about our state budget. How many students are going to decide go out of state? And if they go, will they come back? We have invested in them K-12. but they won’t be here to help improve their communities.

At Elgin, we put a freeze on travel. We looked at vacancies — some will be eliminated, some deferred, some filled. We have to decide. But we have to increasingly going to have to take drastic actions. We need to minimize the impact. The worst thing that could happen is losing money from the state and then we lose students. Students have to realize we are still there and still offer excellent education. If there is any parent in the audience listening — come on down. We have great faculty. We are still standing. The heart of what we do, student success, is being preserved.

Q — Have you been on record as criticized or praising any practices of COD and maybe implementing them?

DS -I may not know all the facts about the situation, but I know that what has happened here has impacted on all community colleges in the state. So I may have contributed comments on what has impacted on all of us in the state.

Q -What do you consider for COD to approach the upcoming HLC review?

DS – There are multiple pathways now. The pathway is to work with students and to provide them with The standard pathway is default. You have to work your way back to the next level. I have a document addressing the HLC challenges and what COD could do to address them I have looked at what has been developed in the community. You can write a lofty report, but what is happening on the ground is the most important thing.

One thing I would do is to meet with the HLC, to underscore the seriousness. To show them we are serious in addressing them. The HLC is in town. We should visit — a couple administrators, faculty, students. We should go dialogue with them about their report.

We need to have people who will be able to execute it well.

Q: As a president, please recount the most significant philanthropic gift and what was your role?

DS_ At ECC I am on the Foundation Bd. Assets were at barely 3 million when I came in. Now they are almost 6 million. I worked with the Foundation staff. We worked a team together to make things possible.

Chase has given us in excess of 26,000 a year for several years for our bridge program for college readiness.

The Foundation has been very successful.

Q — What innovative academic programs have you implemented at ECC and what would you bring here?

DS- Every student wants to achieve their dreams. The buildings are important, but not as important as achieving the dream.

To be a Leader College — we were made one in 2012, we started in 2009, then we got renewed in 2012. We used data to make decisions. We look at student performance and work on different things. This past year, more people graduated from ECC than ever before. We are ahead of what we had planned for 2020!

The achievement gap exists between white and African American and white and Latino students — it’s a national problem. At ECC, it’s significant between white and Latino students. The Gates Foundation came to see what we had done in order to address the achievement gap as well as we did.

Alliance for College Readiness -working with kids K-12. Working to make sure that more and more kids are college ready when they start. We know that students who come in at the developmental level, they are less likely to succeed.

Q: You have a hiring freeze at ECC. Physics, Astronomy, and other disciplines have not had a new hire in 10 years.

DS- It has never been brought to my attention as president because we have a healthy balance between full and part-time faculty. We can cover the classes with what we have.

But looking at Math and English areas, I saw that the ratio was overwhelmingly skewed towards adjuncts. So 2 years ago working with the ECC community I proposed to have 2 new math and 1 English faculty in one year, then 2 new English and 1 new math. This year, only one new position was filled, and that was in math. Now we have put 5 unfilled position on hold till the time that we are able to address the financial challenges. Yes, we may not have good ratios in some areas, but we have some that are being addressed at this time.

Q – Describe areas where you have been a turn-around agent at institutions and what strategies would you apply.

DS- AT Houston I have been told I did well. At Elgin we made changes. When I go there, I held meetings with many many groups. I asked, if you were to conduct a survey at a college in this state, would Elgin be mentioned among the top 5. I got the answer, “no.” But today if you conduct that survey in this state, Elgin would be among the top 5. We just got a report that stated that. We could do the same thing here. We are an excellent institution. We have great faculty, I know that. I will work with faculty directly. I will work on student success. Retaining them, graduating them. Awards, recognition, great. But graduation is my biggest turn around. More people have graduated from ECC these 9 years than in many more previous years. That is very important.

Student success is what we should be about. Whatever dimension we look at, student success should be up there. Students come here for that.

How do administrative and faculty structures differ here than at EDD

Faculty do not put much input into tenure process. The HLC says that should happen. We need to make sure that faculty has a strong input in the tenure process of their peers.

Curriculum — let’s face it – it is owned by faculty. Faculty need to make their recommendations for programs that need to be shepherded. Those are big ones. We need to have a cultural shift. Cultural shifts happen. We can do that. We will be joining colleges that have been doing that for many years. I will ask faculty and administrators that you think are great and let’s look at how they handle the tenure and the curriculum process.

Question: Discuss you criteria for hiring full-time faculty and the characteristics you look for.

DS_ I want passion. Passion for learning. A faculty member has a much more difficult job than faculty at selective colleges. We have students at very uneven level of preparation. Faculty have to be supportive of this. I ask a new faculty member for anything innovative you have done. What is your experience with diverse students? If you are unable to describe anything innovative, then we will have a problem. I also want to hear your passion for your academic area. What have you don’t too show you are committed to student success at an institution? I want you to do anything to make sure that this student succeeds. It doesn’t mean you have to lower the bar. In fact it means you have to raise the bar.

As if we were training someone to go to the Olympics — we can get up early and train with you, we provide you with all the support, through use of technology or other means, to get over the bar, but when you have to jump over the bar, you have to do it all by yourself.

Tutoring services are important. I tell students that they need to use tutoring.

I want a faculty member who believes in the support services the institution has to offer -tutoring, etc.

Faculty have to have a passion and to take risks, and work with colleagues to advance our discipline. That’s why we need colleagues to opine on the tenure process.

Q: Have you participated in union negotiations? What is your process?

DS – Yes, in spring of 1990 I was here at COD and we took the vote to see if we had a faculty union. I was part of that.

In Michigan there were 5 bargaining units. In Michigan, I worked with the union on many issues, MOU, settling disputes, grievances. I became VP and was the point person for the college when it came time to negotiate.

I worked with union leadership in Houston. In Elgin we have a faculty union, a _ union, and the IBEW with some electricians. The BoT usually wants me to be outside of the process rather than in the middle of it. I am in the back room providing support for the process. As an attorney in law school I got a good idea of the value of unions in an institution. I am fully competent to deal with union issues.

Q – How does your educational philosophy transfer into your governing philosophy?

DS – You can tell, I was born and raised in another country. I came here as a high school exchange student in Eureka Illinois. After my exchange student period, i had to go back to my country for two years. Then I came back. Then I wanted to make something of myself. I wanted to be a basketball player and play for the Chicago Bulls. I looked at my DNA and said, it ain’t gonna happen. Then I decided to go into education, something i care deeply about.

I believe strongly in education and what it can do for a person. What it can do for a person. Education did it for me. I am committed to working with every single person, anyone who believes they can benefit from an education. I can’t do that alone — that requires a team. Shared responsibility.

If I am the president I have a requirement of every employee-  bring your A game every day. That day you don’t have your A game with you could be the day you turn someone off.

Why should I expect anything less than your A game?

We will share in responsibilities knowing that every day we bring our A game.

Our institutional goal is excellence.

Q: We have faculty and students who are from your district — what would you do to make sure that ECC stays afloat?

DS- First, if I am president, I will move back to the district. We have a solid foundation at EDD. The college will move forward. We have a wonderful Bot. I told my Board chair before I submitted my application that I was doing this. They are all strongly in support of me. We have outstanding individuals and programs that are at the heart of the college, ECC will continue to be successful At the time I went there, ECC was an outstanding institution. We didn’t have the data to back it up. We worked hard, the data was seen by people and we were recognized.

Q: Discuss how you view the importance of diversity, equity, multiculturalism, equity

DS – The COD philosophy has diversity. So is equity and multicultural. I like that you already have those in your mission.

Appreciate, include and utilize the talents of everyone that we have. It goes beyond ethnicity. It is social economic background, gender. There is strength in that. It is a way of life.

The most democratic form of higher education is the community college. The doors are open to all. We have to make sure that is the situation at COD and embrace it. We must seek people from diverse areas to add to the richness of the institution. So that students feel that they belong here. Are part of the institution. That is what diversity, inclusion and equity is. Equity recognizes that some people are disadvantaged form the beginning. You must do something to being them to the starting line.

Multiculturalism

We need to have college graduates to maintain our standard of living. No one group can meet that goal./ Every conceivable group must help us get there. We must embrace and utilize it.

AUDIENCE QUESTIONS:

Paul LeForte -If I were to go talk to the BOT chair at ECC, “describe to me Dr. Sam’s style of management — what else besides enthusiasm would they say?

DS  Inclusive, bring people to the table, resolve issues, provide leadership to move forward, am even-tempered.  From the book “Good to Great Leader” I would be a level 5 leader.

Modest, have students at heart, get the job done. They will miss me but I have their blessing. Moving beyond support, I have their support.

Karin Evans, English faculty member-Good evening, my name is Karin Evans. I am a member of the English faculty and I have been teaching developmental writing here for 13 years. During this time, I have experienced the value of working alongside counselors who are integral members of the faculty.  In recent years, the number of counseling faculty at COD has declined, although in my classrooms, I have seen an increase in students with needs for counseling support, for mental health issues, assistance making career and transfer decisions, managing multiple placements in developmental coursework, etc.  Help me understand how you have addressed these needs at ECC and what you feel is the ideal approach to providing effective counseling service to students in an open-admissions college with many first-generation college students, and many academically and socio-economically at-risk students.

DS- The most embarrassing questions are heard at ECC from community members, from many years when I was there — when are you going to do something about counseling. We knew there were challenges. Our reports had minutes from our counseling department they recognized that there were challenges that they could not be addressed. It became clear that there would be no changes. We were asking for counselors to come to this millennium. We were in a situation were records were not being kept. Students went to see a counselor and there was no record of the transaction after that. So we kept talking and probing. Then I was told that maybe we should bring in a consultant. We brought one in, he did a study, met with a lot of people. Came up with a report saying that today there are multiple approaches to guiding students in college. There is the advising model and the counseling model. At ECC we chose to go with the Advising model.  Were able to hire more advisors. We hired a couple professionals who were able to help with wellness, social, mental and health issues. One comment  I read related to our accreditation — I have been here for 3 years and haven’t met with a counselor. But now in my last term I have an advisor. Why couldn’t you do this earlier.

I would have to see what are the challenges here. I would have to understand those challenges to address what you are talking about.

Session over. Chair Mazzochi thanks audience and Professor Hansen acknowledges the selection team. Asks committee members to stand up.

Applause.

Mazzochi reminds everyone that the BoT asks for feedback from everybody and refers them to the website where feedback can be submitted.

8:30 Board of Trustees meeting is called to order.

Present:

Trustees Mazzochi, Olsen, Napolitano, Bernstein, Student Trustee Escamiila,

Absent: Birt, McGuire, Wozniak

Public Comments: No public comments.

Next item: Closed Session begins.

No action will be taken following the closed session. Bot will adjourn after the closed session.

So moved. Roll call — unanimous.

BoT closed session begins.

 

 

 

 

Watch the live stream:

http://www.cod.edu/multimedia_services/botmedia.aspx 

The links for giving feedback on all three candidates are on this page:

http://www.cod.edu/presidential_search/

Roll call: Trustees present are Mazzochi, Olsen, Napolitano, Bernstein, and Escamilla. Absent: Birt, McGuire, and Wozniak.

The board is going into closed session.

Good night to all – we’ll be back tomorrow.

Introduced by Glenn Hansen.

I’m not your traditional candidate for this kind of job. After my military career, I went to IBM. Fundamentally, I am a leader. I have had the privilege of leading teams through all kinds of missions and helping them come together.

What does 3 star admiral mean? I was second woman ever to make 3 stars. I learned what it takes to persist and succeed, as individual and as team.

White House Fellow, worked at highest level with government leadership, national and local level. At Great Lakes, was 2 star commander. I relieved a commander who was fired, where every metric for that command was going the wrong way. Three times I have been asked by the Navy to take over for commanders who were fired.

Hybrid experience. I am in non-profit work, for-profit. Have led national defense university. Have been on accreditation boards. As trainer have worked with Gen X and Millennials, and trained trainers. What does IBM bring? Learned about private sector, artificial intelligence.

COD is a nontraditional school, and I am a nontraditional candidate. My body of work is a calling for this college, and that is why I am here. I want to give everything I have and all that I am to COD.

Question period:

Give example of leadership in turnaround situation.

Closest analogy is Great Lakes. Fired commander had misspent money and built buildings instead of training sailors. First thing is to establish trust. I am here for the team, for the mission. Then listen, listen, listen. Everybody wants to do the right thing. Accreditation related to acceptance of sailors being trained, faculty, and curriculum. Constantly stressed that if you do not agree with something, bring me the facts, bring me the data. Team did great because they wanted to do well, they were the people who knew the answers, had a will and desire to make Great Lakes a fabulous place. They found their legs. Within a year and a half, everything going the right direction, fantastic success across the board.

What is your role as president in philanthropy and donor cultivation?

Belief in what we’re doing. Performance. The numbers have to got to show that we’re doing it. People don’t give unless you perform. Then you have to ask – give good will first, then the money will come. Can be more complicated depending on the donor. Are we a good value for taxpayer dollars? If we are already good stewards of the money we already have, then show what we do above and beyond. The noble act of learning is worthy of your money. We’re going to help people survive, thrive and contribute. Starts every day, we’re doing something successful and noble. For every student here there is a story.  Would you like to be part of us? Have done fundraising for many institutions.

Why COD and where can you be the biggest agent for change?

It’s a calling. My body of work is this kind of work. I have spent my career training and teaching people how to get to the next level, and being part of that myself. I came here twice incognito on weekends. Today I came early and walked around. I bought an organic oatmeal cookie from the nurses bake sale. This is what I have done, who I am, applied learning. My doctorate is in applied research and how it affects policy. What I can bring, it’s about you. If you are successful then I have contributed. If every faculty is better than the year before, then I am contributing. My contributions are tied to the success of everyone here. My leadership style is service. I serve you, that is my contribution. My mission is to make things right. I have covenant leadership – my obligation to you, and our obligations to the learning experience. On any given day, my interest is in your success and all students and faculty.

What is the primary role of the college administration and how is it distinct from the role of faculty?

This is a team sport. They both come into play to helping students succeed. We all have teaching missions. I was talking to someone here today, asked for one dream, he said that the college would be as efficient as we ask the students to be. This is not either/or. Cannot run a college of this size and importance. Administrations are the foundation and the faculty are the spire. The core is the learning experience, all doing it together. Both can help in terms of managing scarce resources. How do we admins and faculty come together to make sure the best value for the taxpayer’s dollar. Believe fundamentally in shared governance and transparency. Can’t hold anyone accountable who is in the dark. I make decisions, but not alone.

Relationships/partnerships with community

Consciousness of college that sees itself as regional center of excellence for learning. Not just about community college specific, but in the larger sense, contribute to community. Intellectual life of democracy. CC’s are brilliant for their access – everyone respected as learner and as a doer. Serve everyone in the best way possible. Education, arts, what makes this particular institution the light and the luster. Educate for good value and nice price. Public obligation to CC that has more intimacy, more accountability, different from state universities. When it hurts, we hurt. When it celebrates, we celebrate. Electrician, food service, faculty, dean, security guy – all are intimate to us. Intimacy of activity and knowledge are inspiring, connected to fundamental belief in democracy of education. Still about teaching people trades. This is a place where knowledge is engaged in an intimate way.

Experience w/ accrediting bodies, first steps to address probation letter.

Have been president of college going thru accreditation, have been on four accreditation boards, active in HLC. Accreditation is hard, wonderful for self-examination, to learn new things about ourselves. Probation is hard. Due diligence is going to be tiring. Have to manage our time and energies and be efficient. But it’s not work we cannot do. Marvelous example to our students that we can pass the exam. Confident that with all the people who are here, everyone wants to bring back the luster of the college. Team sport. Everybody has to put on their helmet and shoulder-pads and this is doable. This is work we know, no surprises. Confident, show them resilience and excellence.

Describe experiences w/ evaluating admins and tenured faculty and how dealt with under-performing personnel.

This is what leaders do. There has to be due process and due diligence. Standards and expectation, no secrets about this. I have hired and fired, and in every case it has helped. Have to be careful to set people up to succeed. Preparation is important for hiring, knowing what you need. One of board’s main jobs is to be involved in succession planning. Big believer in a mixture of faculty, tenured, full time, and adjunct. Faculty process of peerage. Peer reviews and peer judgments are very difficult. I would ask them to help me, and I would help them. Quality of conversation, every school is different, all have their own gestalt. Faculty themselves need to have a conversation about their peers. That’s why standards up front are so important. Taxpayers paying our salary, donors, have to show them we are doing our job. Fairness, patience. I have never known a faculty tenure issue that killed somebody. These are important, but take your time to understand what’s going on.

Support services are in great demand, research suggests need for high expectations for students.

Student services are different here than at a residential school. Constantly stay open to pulse, understand needs. Services is the key word, you have to know what the need is. Need to have constant sensing in various kinds of ways. Walking around, having surveys, online feedback. People will tell us what they need, if we understand then we can make adjustments. We have special needs, they are perfectly great. Working adults, we live this every day here, life has all kinds of demands on us. Student services, help that student succeed, make learning experience as quality as possible. Health, cultures, we need to adapt. Student Services needs to be in partnership with faculty. Faculty know what’s going on. Be hand in hand, the reason we’re all here is students. What is complex is the delivery of the services – the philosophy is clear.

Military resume… what are the differences between the military experiences and the college?

In the military, we take young people who are volunteers. We owe that person training and confidence/competence, and they owe us back our service. HVAC, firefighters, medics, mechanics, corpsmen, pre-meds, have overseen curriculum. People who have not been accustomed to school and learning, help them succeed. Anecdote about conversation with aircraft mechanic who learned how to swim, realized he could learn anything. We’re teaching the same cohort in the same parts of their lives, doing the same things. Instilling in each one that no matter what they know today, they have the capacity to know more tomorrow. We can make every person have more self-respect, more self-respect, more dignity. Completely parallel. Teaching in teams, we train the people who come in behind us, legacy and future come in behind us, in tandem. The privilege of helping to lead that would be extraordinary.

Would you include a diversity implementation model for the organization?

Not sure what that entails. First, I am walking diversity. Came into the navy when women didn’t, learned how to deal in that environment. Also served on many diversity task forces and panels. Had troubling times in race relations. Trauma taught us to move forward. We did a lot of work with how to bring diversity into the navy. Measurable and measured. Worst thing to do is plop people in with preparing them for success. I’m all for it, with the caveat that we need to understand how it looks and how it’s measured. Too many places say we have diversity, but it’s vacuous. There has to be a plan to aspire, and a program to perspire.

One college strength to build on, and one weakness to improve on.

Second one first, an odd answer but it hit me in reading latest budget report and SWOT diagram. In threats column, increased demand for accountability. By itself, that says something on its face, but it really says we’re afraid. I would tell you that accountability is opportunity, move to the other quadrant. We should be confident that we can pass any metric. I believe in the COD culture, but the culture is undermined by people not believing in it. We have great things to show. Get us past all the things we gotta get past, and get to the place where people say, look at what they did. Wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe in this. I don’t need to do this. I want to do this. So strength is, we are COD.

Partnerships

One of the things I like about CCs is that they are not allergic to partnerships with businesses. It’s good for the students, so it’s good for us. Create reserve of goodwill. Can’t create it overnight, there will always be another crisis. Teaching moment for students to show them how we do this.

Accomplishments by 4-year mark

Athletic championships. Faculty recognized by Amer Assoc of CCs. Aspen Award. We can do everything great. Everything we are intended to do well. Efficient in energy uses. If our faculty are doing well, not just teaching, but help them study more and be current in their disciplines. If anyone is feeling they’re on a good path, the school will be on a good path, we will come up with answers together. Have to do more listening, I need to know more. Strategic plan is ok, but could it be better? Not just my vision, I will carry the vision with you, in the vanguard with you. Story about Comptroller finding $3million to cut from budget, said no had ever asked him before. Good people who are here and not here, everyone can come together and give us good ideas. Leaders set tone, leaders set culture, teams come through with a lot of cool stuff. And win athletic championships.

Strategies for dealing with wrongdoing.

Hesitating. This is a loaded question, and I want to be fair about it. Identity truly the facts, identify root causes, be careful about being fair and right. That is in containment of the activity. But you have to pay attention to echo effects also. Every leader has rules and processes in this space. Must ask good questions, get expert advice, manage the space and do things properly. But space is porous. What happens outside is important. What’s the effects, the damages, how vulnerable is everything else that was touched? Nurture it, heal it, manage it. This is what I have practiced all my professional life. Understand the impact of that act on culture.

HLC criteria = 21 different core components, how create culture that adheres to all?

One of the first things I would do is talk to HLC, find out where they are, translate that to create clarity. Come back to the experts here. Can’t attack all 21 of them at the same time, what are the prime muscle movements that will move other parts of the body? Get experts to help, do it so it comes together, and clarity will keep us from getting exhausted. Governance issue, board, faculty senate. Governance issues to go through, financial, academic. Governance is #1, have to get it right, job of board and president. Do check-off and prioritization. Again, team sport. Do this together. Let’s all agree on the priorities based on HLC guidance. We can show them good things. I need to learn more about each part of it.

What is your most memorable global cultural experience, how reflected in your work and leadership?

I could name hundreds, here are a couple that apply here. I went to Anarctica, flying in, compasses go crazy close to the pole, landing on ice runway with compasses twirling and ice fog, landed fine. Learned a lot about the globe and climate, scientists are fascinating. It was cultural because those guys and gals are down there all the time, and it’s a strange place. Good for me to find out what they are doing for science. In traveling, learned importance of listening and adapting. Different to talk to someone from Japan, Germany, Aussie, someone from China. If I adapted, I could understand more. Lifetime of experiences of doing that kind of travel. Living an anthropology lesson, psychology, culture, deep perceptions. I learned to listen, pay attention, adapt across the board. Worked with unions in Italy, was its own subcultural experience. One of the most interesting things has been learning about all the women in uniform around the world.

What’s your perspective on international students?

Don’t know complete answer, don’t have a full view, I’m all about international students, and it’s good for everybody, but I don’t know about the resources. Who could we serve? There are a lot who have financial needs who want to come here. I would love to have them here but I dno’t have a sense of our capacity. I saw a number of different kinds of students here when I was walking around, it was great.

Describe your experiences with unionized employees including faculty unions.

In Italy, union of skilled tradesman, under Italian law. In U.S. worked with unions on AFB. Different unions vastly different. Lawyers did negotiations. At NDU, title X federal employees, negotiate through HR reps and union reps, done by lawyers. Never sat at a table. Believe completely in collective bargaining. Part of American labor experience. I have a confession, when I was in HS, applied to Cornell to major in labor relations.

What is your approach to student services.

Should work hand in hand with faculty to promote student success, as I have said. Stay modern. What do our students today need, and how do they get it? The sensing and surveying has to be efficient and effective so we can respond.

How will you spend your first day at COD?

Work out first at fitness center. I’d be smiling and just going around to introduce myself. I have been loitering around here twice, amazing how many people say hello here. First day is going around and being joyful, having incredible belief in who we are, incredible sense of privilege in having a job. Every day would be like that, the privilege is what it is. The joyful heart, happy soul, engaged mind, respect. That would be my first day and every day after.

Public questions:

Paul LeFort: Military background: honor, integrity, structure. We all have an image of what military structure is. Talk about management style.

I’m not George S. Patton. I think this an elephant in the room kind of question. In a general sense, structure in military is for managing chaos. War and combat is chaos. Vertical commands give clarity. Structure helps plans, plans help win. The planning and teaming piece is horizontal. Everybody is accountable to share information. Structure is about the faculty handbook, the standards, the syllabuses. For fiduciary responsibility, what the outside holds us accountable for. Honor and integrity are profound. I promise you this. You can count on my integrity and my forthrightness. You can count on my honor. You can count on me. I am accountable for my covenant. In the military, this is a wonderful thing, liberating – you’re not perfect, but you have a perfect aspiration.

Closing remarks

I didn’t come with a set ending. What do we believe? about ourselves? Belief will get you through on the hard things. If we believe in what we say we believe in here, this is a place that will be spectacular. Whoever is chosen, the president is only a piece of this. In the end, it’s each of you. Every face that’s here matters. We are as strong as the weakest of us. I would love to be here and would love to be your president. I am privileged to be here this evening. I would love to root for Green Bay out of Chicagoland but most of all to root for you. You’re the athletes who will take you to the championship. Thank you for this honor.

Watch the live stream at

http://www.cod.edu/multimedia_services/botmedia.aspx 

The board packet for Thursday’s organizational meeting is now posted at

http://www.cod.edu/about/board_of_trustees/

The following trustees were present during the candidate forum: Mazzochi, Bernstein, Napolitano, and Olsen. We also saw Gloria Roark, the departing student trustee whose term ended on the 15th, and the new student trustee Luzelena Escamilla.

These same trustees sat for the roll call for the special meeting. Birt, McGuire, and Wozniak are absent.

No one has signed up for public comment so the meeting transitions immediately to closed session.

Good night – we will return tomorrow!

 

 

Introduced by Glenn Hansen with brief bio. 30 years experience in many aspects of higher education administration.

Kavalier introduced herself and added more comments on her background. Emphasized her love of research and experience as a researcher, as well as her continuing connection to teaching. Started as classified staff. Has associates degree from Mountain View CC. Asked for show of hands for faculty, classified, admin, community. Effusively thanks everyone for coming.

Vision for college  – hopes and dreams for the future. Like the North Star, to know where you’re headed – purpose, hope, and excitement for the journey ahead. But you have to know where you’ve been.

Has done research on us, identifies one of our major challenges as funding / state budget. Also lawsuits and investigations – this is normal for cc’s. Issues in leadership and governance. Creates uncertainty, lack of trust, anxiety. Greatest challenge and greatest risk is probation.

We can overcome all those challenges because this is a great place, a great institution. Remember years ago, used to hear about COD, hear presentations about the great work of our faculty.

“My vision is that COD will be #1 college in the country for fulfilling the hopes and dreams of our students” – reach high, dream big.

At Navarro College, focused on retention and student success because faculty said that was their first priority. Wanted Navarro to be

Need to create structure, have key strategies and outcomes to get where we want to go. Be best at raising funds, so not dependent on state for funding.

Business and industry will seek us out.

Develop meaningful relationships and partnerships. It’s all about leadership, relationships, and collaboration. If I am so fortunate to be selected, my job will be to reach out to all of you. Bring back hope and anticipation. Bring community to college and engage them, but also to go out into the community.

Fight for COD. Be the person standing in front, defending and protecting you. Remind everyone how great this institution is. Share stories of your success.

Cultivate an environment of trust, respect, hope, and kindness. Anything is possible in that environment.

Question Period

Academics one of greatest strengths – how will you support and enhance?

Make academics one of the top priorities of the college. Allocate resources. Advance, improve. Strong professional development. Faculty attend conferences, new learning. Culture of accountability, demonstrate success of students. Celebrate our successes, tell our story.

Describe educational philosophy, why suited to COD?

Was low income, first generation student. Passionate about cc mission and all it can do to transform a life. Rooted in my experiences. Everyone should have access to education and everyone is capable of learning, growing, reaching full potential.

Of items in HLC report, what could college have done differently? Examples from your experience?

Component 2.8 (?) integrity of the institution. 5b admin and governance oversight. Both are very broad, really relate to the whole college. Have to reevaluate and assess all aspects of criteria. What do we do? I have had the opportunity to help another college get removed from probation, San Jose City College. Range of citations, had a year and a half to correct. The kind of citations we have reflect the culture. Not just writing a report to show compliance. At SJCC, said this is really about culture, we have to have a courageous conversation. Brought all employees together at round tables in the gym to have a conversation about culture. Asked each table to write a fairy story about how SJCC is now. Difficult, sad, people cried. Came back in afternoon and wrote a new story about hopes and dreams, where they see SJCC next year, two years. Passion for college and serving students came out. Ready to go to work, thinking about the future. Have to get organized. Took the due date for the report and built timeline with key milestones. Built teams that addressed different issues. I have experience with evaluation teams, I know what you have to write and how to prove compliance. We were all in this together. We tried to make it fun, and we tried to celebrate along the way. At the end we had a huge celebration. This approach could be successful here.

At COD many 2+2 and 3+1 and Honors program. Brought American Honors into Navarro. Would you do this here?

Would have to hear from you. Would introduce you to the concept. What fits into the college environment here? Would make that decision together.

How would you establish clear and high expectations for students? What is president’s role?

First of all, I agree. Students will rise to the expectations. It has to do with culture. I have to meet with students on a regular basis. Work with faculty, hear their voices about standards. Reflects on her early conversations with faculty at Navarro who expressed that they wanted to increase student success.

We have a diverse set of students and pathways to success. How do you create policies to measure how students succeed and keep them on track?

As Dean at Dallas County CC District in Institutional Research, worked with faculty to define outcomes. On technical side, easier to establish because of factors like licensure. Lots of data to demonstrate success. Had one professor who did not see benefit of outcomes-based assessment. Story of how they worked together.

What prompted you to make a move?

Story of working at large, urban, multi-college districts, was happy at SJCC but left for Navarro because of father’s illness, he lived nearby. Accomplished her mission at Navarro to get them thru accreditation, every 10 years in that region. Navarro had a lot of work to do to prepare. Planned, built a team, now ready to get to a job that is more aligned with her experience.

What is the difference between running a college like a business and running a college in financially responsible manner?

Have to keep eye on business side. Make sure everybody gets paid, the budget is balanced. Fine line. Student Services background – knew early on that to be a successful president, have to understand finance and business. Did internship for PhD on business side. Understand and manage a budget like a business. Shouldn’t just delegate to VP finance.

Have you ever had to terminate a faculty member or senior administrator, and what standards should be applied?

These are the hardest decisions but you do encounter them. When I started as president at SJCC, state budget cuts really hurt college budget. Previous president had identified classified staff who had to be laid off. Union environment, following contract. Does not make easier. In current position, one particular faculty member had history of negative evals and did not respond to performance plan. Rec from Dean and VP not to renew contract. Was hurting growth in an important area. Was not protected by union because Texas. Come back to what is best for students and the institution. Be centered and grounded in helping students succeed.

What does diversity mean to you; how should be incorporated into institution; what has been your most significant global experience; comment on differences among students in different states where you have worked.

Fortunate to have worked as VP Student Services, always engaged with all kinds of different students. Have to sit down and have conversation about policies and procedures – they define how we interact with students. Does a policy help students or hurt them? Is it a barrier? Example late registration – hurts students, they don’t succeed.

Make sure robust offering of activities, clubs, programs that engage students so they feel sense of connection outside of the classroom, make them feel they belong. Implemented African-American – Latino Male Summit, reach out to these vulnerable young men as HS seniors, introduced them to college, finances, mentoring from community member. Safe Zones at Tacoma and SJCC, provided outreach to LGBT, intensive training for faculty and staff to increase awareness of students who might feel bullied or unsafe. Institution has to think about all practices including hiring. Are you inviting people into the institution who can best serve the students? Strong international program is very important.

First-hand experiences helping student veterans adjust to civilian life and return to classroom. Really impacted me. Had grant opportunity allowed college to apply for funds to help them. Created new certificate program in psychology for veterans to learn how to help veterans. Amazing experience will always remember and cherish.

What is the greatest impact a community college can have on its district?

Building relationships. Takes all of us working together to get things done. Build trust and respect, transparency, reward and encourage collaboration. Build relationships between faculty and classified, president and board, college and community.

Can you provide exs of developing innovative programs adopted by others?

AA-Latino Male Summit and Safe Zone programs were adopted at more than one college. American Honors Program – first college in TX to be invited to join. Company works with faculty to develop honors curriculum that guarantees students admission to top tier Ivy League schools.

What are your views of strategic planning, shared governance, and getting input from all stakeholders?

Can’t achieve vision without strategic plan. Also must be in compliance. Has done much work on strategic planning, provided leadership at SJCC and Navarro in both cases for compliance. As research, has done a lot of work on strategic planning. Key to planning is measurable goals. Must have short-range plans, be adaptive and responsive to changes in society. Strategic planning committee with reps from all constituencies. In California, shared governance is mandated by law. Good thing, good to consult with faculty. Everyone must have a voice, but particularly faculty in curriculum, grades, professional development. Love working with faculty. Have all the expertise sitting around the table, why wouldn’t you want that? All my accomplishments have been related to working in a team. Very supportive of shared governance.

Budget crisis in Illinois, what have you done to improve revenue, what would work here?

Could talk about this all night long. A lot of my work has been on institutional entrepreneurship. Studied best colleges in the country, applied many lessons learned. Example, came into institution and discovered structural deficits in budget. Certain faculty salaries and some other expenses were being covered by fund balance. How to address? How can better leverage resources? Create cost center for renting out underused space on evenings and weekends. Looking for efficiencies – instead of just cutting the budget, look long-term, such as restructuring contract for electric rates. Generate new revenue streams – such as increasing enrollment of international students. Set up MOU with local 4-year college that was very attractive for international. At Navarro, college had opportunity to start a new concept in college bookstore as a new revenue stream. Have to cultivate responsible risk-taking – empower faculty and staff to come up with new ideas, when something is successful, recognize and reward.

We have five unions. What is your view of collective bargaining and interactions with unions in the past?

First worked with unions at Tacoma CC as VP Student Services, also at Mesa, had faculty w/in student services, counselors. SJCC union, worked very closely with union president, smart reasonable gentleman. Texas does not have unions.

Provide your views of counseling/advising, students services, meet the needs of students to be successful.

Published an article ten years ago, “where have all the counselors gone?” Colleges replacing academic counselors with advisers. Anecdote she heard about starting new colleges in Dallas and counselors being the first people hired, because they know the whole college. Mental health issues and challenges that students face. Big advocate of student services. Job is very hard. Worked 7 years on front line of testing center as classified staff on evening and weekend shifts. If you want to know what’s happening with students, go talk to the advisors, the financial aid people. Passionate about the work of students services. Removed student services from the shadows at Navarro, getting resources allocated.

Fast forward 3 years, you are president, we win a major award. What award did we win?

Aspen Award for community colleges. Looks at everything – at-risk students, diverse students. When we win the Aspen Award, we can say we’re the #1 community college in the nation.

Public comment and questions:

Paul LeFort: Could you give us example when you got into a situation as complex as the one we have here, what techniques worked best?

Helping transition SJCC off probation. Some recommendations had to do with board governance – ethics, policies, similar to some of the recommendations here. Had to work closely with Chancellor and Trustees. Had split board, meetings going until midnight, public comments that went on for an hour or two hours. Similar to our situation. First thing was working with trustees to adopt self-evaluation – this is a norm now, but was not easy and was worth while. Great documentation. Evaluation of district governance – decision-making levels, show separation between management and oversight. Did survey and used results to document. Had to be patient and persistent with board, would take several meetings to get decisions. Adopted Carver Model of board governance, took a year to complete arduous process to complete the model. Recently talked to a trustee who said things are much better now. There was a change and there is hope. Leveraging the fact that we were on probation. Having integrity and authenticity in my previous experience, knowing the extensive impact of losing accreditation, knew what that really meant.

Maryann Zlotow: quoted comments from the article in local paper that were negative, asked why the challenges weren’t enough.

Hard to comment, lack of information, don’t know the person. Proud of her work there and connections to former colleagues.

Closing comments, very upbeat, can overcome challenges, would love to provide leadership here. My education and experience align with your challenges. I can be of service.

Live streaming at

cod.edu/multimedia_services/botmedia.aspx

Blogging commencing.

John Kraft, Edgar Cty Watchdogs, asks to be notified of ceremony for placement of new HEC building sign. Raises question about bank donation.

Kirk Allen, Edgar Cty Watchdogs, speak to records retention issue. Had foia’d the policy, withheld from foia. When received from state, there was a page about retention of emails that was missing from COD’s foia packet.

Bob Hazard, reading Deborah Adelman’s comments about the Community Education Farm. My name is Deborah Adelman, English faculty member  My comments tonight represent my perspective as part of the interdisciplinary Community Education Farm Team. We would like to inform you of the current status of the Farm project, and give you some brief historical background. We have now gone two seasons with no farm, although we were promised a permanent site on campus, and as spring and a new season approaches, we would like to get the College to honor that promise in time for a 2016 growing season.

The Community Education Farm was founded in 2003. It is an interdisciplinary service learning site, a sustainable urban agriculture project where COD students, staff and community members have grown vegetables , delivered to community residents in need of food assistance.  The farm was created with funds from a Tell Lab grant to enhance science education through the COD Honors Program, and along the way received grants from BP, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and was developed with consultation from the Learning Center at Angelic Organics in Caledonia Illinois, one of the early leaders in the sustainable agriculture movement in the Midwest.  Our efforts were covered in the Chicago Tribune, The Daily Herald, and Comcast Community television. The COD farm team ran a low-budget  highly productive project, delivering literally tons of student-grown produce to local food pantries, with a particular focus on partnership with the Food Market at the People’s Resource Center in Wheaton.

When we moved from our original site  to a second site, the college invested in infrastructure to ensure our continued operations.  We had raised beds, rainwater collection equipment and vermicomposting, allowing for a full cycle of operations.  We were poised to add fruit trees and educational signage, but this forward movement was interrupted when we were told to uproot the farm and move across campus. We were promised  a comparable site in our new location as long as we became a cost-recovery program.  We complied with that requirement, and became financially self-sufficient.  In fact, we still have money in the COD Foundation This happened 7 years ago.  We then were moved to two different sites and finally, two years ago, lost that site (our fourth) because of the demolition of K and OCC Buildings. We were promised we would be given a new, permanent site.

We are still waiting for COD to deliver on the promise that was made.

This winter, we had meetings with administrators from academic affairs about the farm’s future location and operations.  Everyone present at these meetings agreed to rename the Farm  “Lambert Farm at College of DuPage.”  Lambert Farm will be comprised of two sites. One of these sites will be the interdisciplinary service learning site, which is the continuation of the original project started in 2003. We are distributing a document to you tonight that outlines the purpose and mission of that site At the moment, however, work on developing this site seems to have come to a halt.  We need support from the college to get this project ready for the 2016 growing season, which really is upon us. [Time ran out, Chair Mazzochi asks for the statement in full to be emailed.]

Don Westlake, BTE advocate. Reiterates that BTE is for the common good, and that the cost is miniscule. No taxpayer has ever complained.

TRUSTEE DISCUSSION

Wozniak brings up news that Harper is cutting costs and laying off staff and we are spending millions including hiring in-house counsel that we don’t need. Then says he knows the watchdogs think he should resign, and Kraft calls out “we still do.” Mazzochi tries to quiet the exchange.  “Pathetic,” Wozniak says twice as Mazzochi regains control.

Bernstein asks for more information about the Community Education Farm and open discussion, proposal. Mazzochi says that if it’s not self-sustaining, has to be tied to academic program, references trouble with the Waterleaf. Bernstein agrees, not in favor of burgeoning auxiliaries, but we don’t know what the direct role could be in education. Napolitano agrees.

McGuire brings up “dear to my heart” incomplete landscaping at Naperville Center. Auditor General’s audit, is it still in progress? Exchange with Collins, Elliott, and Mazzochi. Responsive documents have been provided. Have not seen bills yet.

Mazzochi reminds McGuire, Wozniak, and Birt (now absent) of documents that they are supposed to execute stating that they will preserve documents.

Meeting returns to closed session. This ends tonight’s public meeting.

#12 reallocation of universal fees passes unanimously without discussion.

#13 SRC rotunda ceiling, Mazzochi asks for management to discuss. Why was only one bid received? Schmeidle responds, other firms were not able to meet scope of work or timeline. Bidder came in under estimate, seems well qualified according to our consultant. Installation is specialized. Consultant does not have prior relationship with bidding firm. Napolitano very uncomfortable because no competitive bids. There is no safety issue; the problem is very disturbing noise in the circulation/reference area, as well as confidentiality of conversations as materials are checked out. Work should be done during summer session, don’t want to miss the time window – work can only be done during a college session break. Olsen speaks in favor of the project based on it being under budget. Napolitano states that he would be more comfortable if the BOT had checked references. He votes no along with Mazzochi, all others vote yes.

#14 Sound system in PE arena. Another single bid response. Paul Zakowski, Director of Athletics, responds. Went through purchasing. Mazzochi asks why short installation schedule needed, four days. Graduations for COD as well as high schools, then prep for college sports starting by August 1. Contractors responded that the time frame is too short. Zakowski says that it was a capital item approved last year by the BOT and work has to be done by July 1. Napolitano raises issue of separating the sound system from the painting work needed (older speakers being removed would cause holes in ceiling). Vendor installed current sound system in PE renovation. Familiar with building. Very satisfied with their work. Mazzochi votes no. Motion passes.

#15 Office of general counsel mission statement and job description. McGuire says that she will vote no. Raises objection to the college having to be “persuaded” to follow the law. Does not like in-house counsel reporting to the BOT, dual reporting to both BOT and president. Bernstein argues that there is no conflict or any actual dual reporting role. Client reporting relationship is to the board. Mazzochi agrees. More discussion. Split vote with Birt, McGuire, and Wozniak voting no.