Heads & Trustees Week 2025
January 27 – 31, 2025, 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM (Virtual & Recorded)
Gather your Board and join your colleagues for the 2025 VAIS Heads & Trustees Week. This Virtual Program features daily doses of learning throughout the week, including an engaging Keynote, practical sessions for you and your team, and fast-paced concurrent sessions with industry experts.
| MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keynote: Watch Your Step: Leadership & Governance Lessons Learned | Small School Governance is Good Governance for ALL! | Enhancing Board Effectiveness Through Comprehensive Governance Documents | Assess and Mitigate Your AI Risk | Moving the Needle on Alumni Giving and Engagement |
MONDAY KEYNOTE: Megan Mann, Founder, The Approach Group
Watch Your Step: Leadership and Governance Lessons from Five Transformative Years
Adaptability has become the cornerstone of effective leadership in independent schools. Over the past five years, school leaders have navigated public health crises; cultural challenges; intensified scrutiny from families, governments, and media; rapid advancements in AI; and an increasing wave of community-driven litigation, all while addressing the ongoing complexities of managing and leading diverse communities. In this keynote, Megan Mann—an experienced independent school leadership partner, VAIS member-school parent, alum, and trustee—will reflect on key leadership lessons learned during this time of profound change. Join your fellow heads of schools and trustees for an engaging conversation that explores these lessons and provides actionable insights to help your school thrive. A Q&A session will follow to deepen the dialogue.
Sponsored by RCM&D
FEATURED SESSIONS
Small School Governance is Good Governance for ALL!
Brooke Carroll, Principal Consultant and Coach, Acies Strategies
Small schools need to accomplish all of the same things larger schools do, with fewer resources! We can learn much from their resourcefulness. In this workshop, we will discuss some of the unique challenges small school boards face and the models and strategies all board members can use to govern their schools effectively.
Sponsored by ViCom
Enhancing The Board’s Effectiveness Through Comprehensive Governance Documents
Susan Guerette, Partner, Fisher Phillips
Good governance starts with strong foundational documents. In this session, Guerette will guide participants through the essential governance documents needed for effective board operations. The session will focus on school Bylaws and review the creation and revision of Articles of Incorporation and other critical documents, including codes of conduct, Board manuals, and whistleblower provisions.
Sponsored by ConnectOne
Artificial Intelligence: The Impact of New Laws and Regulations in Schools
Emma Cradock, Data Privacy and Protection Research Consultant, 9ine
AI is already being used in schools by both teachers and students, but its use doesn’t come without risks. To ensure that society has some control over the use of AI, regulators globally have been active in producing laws, principles and guidelines on its use, with the education sector being a key focus. To help VAIS schools navigate these laws and stay ahead, we’re hosting an interactive webinar on the global impact of the EU AI Act, and what regulators are doing more locally in Virginia.
Sponsored by 9ine
FRI. Moving the Needle on Alumni Giving and Engagement
Nana Oppong, Senior Vice President & Jennifer Devon, Vice President, CCS Fundraising
Alumni often represent a school’s largest group of total donors, yet they typically give at lower levels. What would be possible if you could increase the giving of just a fraction of your school’s alumni? This session will examine time-tested alumni giving strategies and discuss how reshaping your alumni engagement in 2025 directly impacts your overall philanthropic pipeline.
Sponsored by CCS Fundraising
REGISTRATION:
| Who? | Administrative Fee: |
| VAIS Members | $225 |
REGISTRATION CLOSES JANUARY 17
Register only ONE person from your school who will distribute all the details and access for the program.
MEET OUR SUPPORTERS
