Boards in Uncertain Times:

Exploring the Implications of Financial, Technological and Generational Change for Nonprofit Governance

A Conference for Practitioners and Researchers

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKERS

Three leading speakers will set the stage with special presentations on key aspects of governance in these uncertain times:

Thursday, April 23 (8:30 – 10:30 a.m.) - Opening Plenary

“Reality Governance: Trusteeship in Chaos”

Ruth McCambridge, Editor-in-Chief, The Nonprofit Quarterly

Ruth McCambridge has more than thirty-five years of experience working with community-based nonprofits. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of The Nonprofit Quarterly, an innovative nonprofit journal aimed at helping to build the capacity of individual nonprofits and the sector at large. Her work with the Quarterly is part of a larger body of work aimed at building fields of practice within the nonprofit sector. Ruth was formerly with the Boston Foundation, where she served for 10 years and developed a statewide management assistance program for homeless and battered women's shelters. While there, she also managed the foundation’s Fund for the Homeless and helped launch a number of innovative capacity-building initiatives.  Ruth’s expertise includes nonprofit assessment and facilitation, using techniques based on her own research and experience as well as the work of cutting-edge organizational change theorists.

Thursday, April 23 (Noon – 1:30 p.m.) - Luncheon Plenary

“What Matters About the Chair of the Board”

Yvonne Harrison, Assistant Professor in the Center for Nonprofit Leadership at Seattle University

Yvonne Harrison is an Assistant Professor in the Center for Nonprofit Leadership at Seattle University. Since 2006 she has been part of a team examining the role, impact, and influences of board chair leadership in the USA, Canada, and recently, the United Kingdom. Prior research includes two national studies exploring the role and impacts of information and communications technology (ICT) on volunteerism in Canada’s nonprofit sector. She teaches boards, volunteerism, and information management for nonprofit and government organizations. She is a member of the Catholic Relief Services Partnership Committee and co-founder of the Global Solidarity Network Study eBroad Program (www.gsnstudyebroad.org) a web-based “participatory learning community” that connects students and faculty in the United States to CRS policy experts and staff working on front lines of social justice issues in developing countries. She is the author of a number of research reports, peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers on board chair leadership, information technology adoption challenges and effectiveness, and board chair leadership.

Friday, April 24 (Noon – 1:30 p.m.) - Luncheon Plenary

“The Challenges of Network Governance: Reflections from Research Outside the Field”

Melissa Stone, University of Minnesota

Melissa M. Stone is the Gross Family Professor of Nonprofit Management and Director of the Public and Nonprofit Leadership Center at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota.  Her teaching and research focuses on governance of nonprofit organizations and cross-sector partnerships as policy implementation tools. Stone has published widely on these topics, sits on the editorial board of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly,  the board of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council, and holds a Ph.D. from Yale University.