Engage with a cohort of other Chief Strategy Officers to build your network, explore common issues you face, share current practices, and increase your effectiveness.
Overview
Chief Strategy Officers tend to have no peers at their institutions. Charged with driving the university’s strategic plan forward and working across stakeholders to ensure proper execution, they play critically important roles on campus. This means that they simultaneously must be data-informed and big picture-oriented, ensuring alignment with institutional mission and vision, and they must also possess the leadership skills necessary to influence culture, develop talent, and create alignment across the cabinet, President, and Board.
Given the singularity of this role, Chief Strategy Officers & VPs of Strategy need the ongoing support and community that can only be provided by others serving in a similar capacity. In this roundtable series, you can join a group of other Chief Strategy Officers across higher education to discuss the common challenges you face, get support from experienced professionals, and build your professional and personal network. You will:
- Engage in discussion about timely topics and challenges you’re facing in your role in a small, cohort-based, and confidential environment.
- Build community with other chiefs and VPs of strategy and expand your professional network.
- Learn from peers and exchange institution-specific practices and approaches.
To preserve an intimate and productive experience, this roundtable will be capped at 12 attendees.
In-Person and Virtual Sessions
To facilitate community and trust-building among the cohort from the start, the roundtable will kick off with a full-day in-person strategy session in Denver, Colorado on Tuesday, January 31. Six weekly, hour-long virtual sessions will follow, running from early February through the middle of March, culminating with a personalized 1-on-1 session for each participant with the roundtable instructor to apply all of your newfound knowledge to your unique institutional needs.
Session 1 (In-person): Tuesday January 31 | 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. MT (local time in Denver, CO)
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. MT: Welcome and Introductions
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. MT: Strategy Session
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. MT: Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. MT: The CSO Role of Today and the Future
2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. MT: Explore Personal Vision and Goals
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. MT: Networking
Session 2 (Virtual): Tuesday, February 7 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Session 3 (Virtual): Tuesday, February 14 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Session 4 (Virtual): Tuesday, February 21 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Session 5 (Virtual): Tuesday, February 28 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Session 6 (Virtual): Tuesday, March 7 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Session 7 (Virtual): Tuesday, March 14 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Weeks of March 14 and March 20: You will have the chance to sign up for an optional 30-minute 1:1 session with the instructor to discuss individualized questions related to roundtable topics or your own career path.
Can’t attend all sessions?
No problem. However, we recommend attending the in-person kick-off and at least five of the virtual sessions to get the most value from the experience.
Who Should Attend
This group engagement is designed for Chief Strategy Officers, VPs of strategy, VPs of strategic initiatives, and chiefs of staff who report to the President, who serve on the President’s cabinet/executive team, and/or have similar institution-wide strategy-level responsibilities.
If you are specifically charged with responsibilities like the following, this program is for you:
- Leading strategic planning processes and initiatives
- Managing the strategic plan: funding, metrics, & accountability
- Convening and creating alignment between and among cabinet members and other senior leaders
- Providing strategic guidance and advice to the President
- Succession planning and leadership development at the cabinet level
How Roundtables Work
The goal of this roundtable is to bring together a small cohort of peers for a comprehensive learning and networking experience. Through short, regular live meetings, you will come together with a maximum of eleven other peers and our expert to:
- Build strong connections and expand your network.
- Try new tactics and approaches to improve your effectiveness.
- Share your own best practices and hear those of others.
- Carve out time for self-reflection.
- Be part of a cohort-based support community.
- Contribute to the conversation with your own thought leadership.
AGENDA
Session 1 (In-person): Tuesday January 31 | 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. MT (local time in Denver, CO)
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. MT: Welcome and Introductions
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. MT: Strategy Session
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. MT: Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. MT: The CSO Role of Today and the Future
2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. MT: Explore Personal Vision and Goals
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. MT: Networking
Session 2 (Virtual): Tuesday, February 7 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Session 3 (Virtual): Tuesday, February 14 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Session 4 (Virtual): Tuesday, February 21 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Session 5 (Virtual): Tuesday, February 28 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Session 6 (Virtual): Tuesday, March 7 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Session 7 (Virtual): Tuesday, March 14 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
During this series of roundtable sessions, you and your fellow attendees will get to drive the agenda based on common challenges such as the following:
- Maintaining alignment with institutional mission and vision
- Using performance metrics and dashboards to track progress
- Inclusive design: planning for equity
- Effective activities & planning sessions
- Financing the plan in alignment with:
- Budget
- Advancement
- Board
- Region
- Grants/Foundations
- Supporting the President’s role in planning
- Advising the President broadly on issues of strategy
- Aligning the President’s goals with Board, campus, and region
- Managing the plan through presidential and other leadership transitions
- Leading or contributing to onboarding and talent development at the cabinet level as well as succession planning
- Holding cabinet members accountable for implementation & execution
- Fostering collaboration that eliminates siloes
- Vertically aligning division plans to institutional plans; and horizontally integrating divisional plans with each other
- Building and maintaining trust across the cabinet
- Using data and analytics to support student success, executive decision-making, and strategic plan implementation
- Championing enterprise-level initiatives that support institutional mission and goals
- Planning through shared governance and including faculty, staff and student voices at scale
- Linking the institution to the greater community
- Board engagement
- Future and systems thinking
- Ensuring accountability
- Overcoming change fatigue & resistance to change
- Influencing & shaping culture
- Problem solving
- Providing motivation and inspiration
- Forums for gathering input & communicating around the strategic plan
- Creating shared language & branding the plan
- Effective storytelling
LOCATION
January 31, 2023: Denver, CO | February 7 - March 14, 2023: Online
The kickoff session will be conducted in-person at Academic Impressions’ Denver-based office at:
5299 DTC Blvd, Suite 1400, Greenwood Village, CO 80111
Nearby hotel suggestions:
Hyatt Place Denver Tech Center – 3-star hotel
8300 E Crescent Pkwy, Greenwood Village, CO 80111
303-804-0700
Distance from office: 0.5 miles if driving, 0.3 miles if walking
Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center – 4-star hotel
7800 E Tufts Ave, Denver, CO 80237
303-779-1234
Distance from office: 1.1 miles
Denver Marriott Tech Center – 4-star hotel
4900 S Syracuse St, Denver, CO 80237
303-779-1100
Distance from office: 0.9-1.2 miles, depending on route
FACILITATOR
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
CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER ROUNDTABLE
$3,500
per person
Questions About the Event?
Amy Giordano
Senior Learning & Development Manager,
Academic Impressions