The Net Assets Podcast from NBOA

Weston Outlaw currently serves as CFO at Columbus Academy, a co-ed country day school in Columbus, Ohio. But his relationship with independent schools goes far back, to his own childhood, when he was educated at two beloved institutions that transformed his career trajectory and life. Outlaw talks with NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields about his work in auxiliary programming from part-time jobs...

In this episode, Frank Aloise, chief financial officer at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, joins NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields to discuss leadership in independent schools, particularly during a merger. Recorded in-person at the 2026 NBOA Annual Meeting, Aloise reflects on the time and energy required to complete the merger itself, on both the business and cultural sides, as...

Nancy Greene, CFO and vice president for finance and operations at Pine Crest School in Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has received just about every major NBOA honor, thanks to her dedication to the schools she's served and forward thinking in the business office. It's no surprise she's at the forefront of strategic AI adoption, for which Pine Crest received the 2026 Jeffrey Shields Inno...

In this episode, recorded live at the 2026 NBOA Annual Meeting in Orlando, host and NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields sits down with Dallas Joseph, chief financial and operating officer at Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Joseph reflects on the centrality of personal connections, generosity and inclusivity to the profession and the association since its earliest days, as well as the busi...

In this episode, host and NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields speaks with Patrick Schuermann, Ed. D., recipient of the 2026 Sarah Daignault Outstanding Support of Independent Schools Award. Schuermann reflects on his work helping independent schools align academic and business leadership, from his days launching Vanderbilt’s independent school leadership master’s program to his current work advisi...

Heather McGowan is an award-winning industrial designer, futurist and author. She will keynote the final day of the 2026 NBOA Annual Meeting, which also features a morning of AI focused sessions. In conversation with NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields, McGowan shares how today's independent school business leaders can embrace continuous learning — and unlearning — to keep their practices up to sp...

Mike Flanagan, CEO of the newly formed E3n, a merger of EMA and ERB, worked in ed tech, led the SSS financial aid product and then the Mastery Transcript Consortium before taking the helm of the new association focused on enrollment and assessment. With host and NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields, Flanagan talks about how his background in product management as well as deep experience in educatio...

Commonfund Institute Executive Director George Suttles shares with NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields why he's taking on an Ed. D. in education and innovation on top of leadership and board service roles. Diving into trends in independent school investment strategies, they look back at NBOA's 20-year partnership with Commonfund Institute to study independent school endowments and key takeaways fr...

NBOA Advisory Services was launched to meet a need that independent school leaders had voiced for years — a need for school-specific business operations consulting, be it a business office assessment, CFO placement or long-range financial planning. President and CEO of NBOA Advisory Services, James Palmieri, Ed. D., CAE, shares his leadership journey, which includes many roles that hadn't previous...

The 2025 recipient of the Ken White Distinguished Business Officer Award, Sandi Pierce, shares how her role at Cate School, a boarding school in Carpinteria, California, has shifted from chief business officer to assistant head of school, full stop. In her more than 30 years at Cate, Pierce has handled the full range of operations responsibilities, from response to severe wildfires and other natur...

Assistant Head for Enrollment Kathy Gonzalez leads a team of 12 admissions professionals at Hawken School, which has five campuses around Cleveland, Ohio. But she hasn't always worked in such an expansive program. Gonzalez started out in development at her alma mater, where she built the program from the ground up; moved into teaching and then into enrollment. In previous roles in the Pacific Nort...

Before joining the NBOA Board of Directors, current NBOA Board Chair Beth Pollard and immediate past Chair Duncan Booth had plenty of experience in the boardroom as independent school business leaders. However, Pollard, who serves as CFO at The Ensworth School in Nashville, and Booth, who serves as COO at The St. Paul’s Schools in Baltimore, gained new perspectives when tasked with governing as op...

Olaf Weckesser, CFO at The Pingry School in New Jersey, may come up with the best April's Fools jokes on campus, but for him, school strategy is no laughing matter. When Pingry leaders had the opportunity to acquire property from a nearby closing independent school, they seized it, even though they hadn't mapped out all the details. Now the former dorms provide housing for faculty who otherwise wo...

Josh Abrams shares his unexpected journey from math teacher to co-founder and head of Meridian Academy in Boston, where he has led both the academic program and school business for 20 years. An intentionally small, financially accessible school, Meridian has launched creative and cost-effective faculty support programs to retain faculty, including a housing assistance grant. "Teachers are easy to...

In this episode, John Gulla, executive director of the Edward E. Ford Foundation, shares insights from a remarkable career that has taken him to more than 750 independent schools. Gulla discusses his journey from the classroom to foundation leadership, the transformative power of teaching, and how E.E. Ford’s grantmaking supports innovation and adaptability across the independent school landscape....

Kathy Ferguson, partner at Armanino, shares her journey from education to auditing and offers insights on AI in the independent school business office. AI can enhance job satisfaction and transform rote processes, she explains. With host Jeff Shields, Ferguson also explores cryptocurrency, transparency and advancing women in leadership. Ferguson has long supported women in the accounting professio...

In this episode of the Net Assets Podcast, Grace H. Lee, a partner with Venable, LLP, in Washington, DC, and NBOA’s legal counsel, shares why she got into the legal profession and discusses hot topics in independent school legal affairs with host Jeff Shields, NBOA’s president and CEO. They touch on the evolution of the school counselor and guardrails school leaders should consider, the evolution...

In the season 2 premiere of the Net Assets Podcast, Jerry Walker, associate head of school for finance and operations at Kent Denver School, shares his school’s strategies for retaining staff talent with podcast host, NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields. A transparent staff compensation system and meaningful raises have fostered staff satisfaction and long-term commitment.

The opening speaker at the 2025 NBOA Annual Meeting will be Kyle Scheele, who is known for cooking up wild ideas that many people back for laughs and for learning. NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields discusses with Scheele the process behind some of his outlandish projects and about being creative in the workplace. “I don’t want people to be like me,” said Scheele. “I want them to tap into their o...

At Stevenson School in picturesque Pebble Beach, California, the school’s data operations team is turning technology on its head. Rather than building business processes around available technology, they’re harnessing technology to facilitate more efficient and strategic business processes. As a result, more staff can access the data they need when they need it, and the school is primed for enterp...

When crisis strikes, school leaders often feel pressure to make a statement and move on. But in the latest episode of The Net Assets Podcast, Jeff Sheilds and Howard Teibel speak with a school head taking a radically different approach. Kalyan Balavan, head of the Dunn School in Santa Barbara County , is leading his community through an authentic dialogue about the ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict. R...

When Louisville Collegiate School was offered a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand its campus within a tight urban landscape, school leaders rejoiced. Despite thorough due diligence, they had to adjust course when parts of the community objected to what seemed like a win-win situation. CFO Deana Paradis shares how the business leader played an important role managing change, which has resu...

We are thrilled to present this episode of the Net Assets Podcast, a partnership between NBOA and Teibel Education Consulting , with NBOA President and CEO Jeff Shields and Teibel Education President Howard Teibel. This episode marks the first in what we hope will become a collection of some of the best and most illuminating interviews dedicated to you, independent school business leaders. As NBOA...

Welcome to the Net Assets Podcast, a partnership between NBOA and Teibel Education Consulting. Each episode will serve to expand on a popular article in NBOA's Net Assets magazine. We'll delve into the most pressing issues in independent school business and operations and we'll hear from chief financial and operational officers alongside other leaders of school business as they share what inspires...