Palmer Ball

Palmer Ball has been Business Manager at Spartanburg Day School in Spartanburg, SC for 12 years. Prior to that, she was Vice President for Business and Finance at Converse College (Spartanburg, SC) for 4 years, having previously served in the College's Development Office for 3 years. Before returning to her alma mater, Palmer was a Tax Associate at Price Waterhouse in Atlanta, GA for 2 years. Palmer earned a BA in Biology from Converse College in 1984 and an MBA in Accounting from Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management in 1986. She has been active on the boards of a number of local non-profits, serving as Treasurer of most of them. She has coached the JV and Varsity golf teams at SDS, in addition to serving as a guest teacher for several Finance and Independent Woman Special Studies Classes. Palmer has presented the Multi-Year Financial Model presentation at several conferences.

Andrew "Ace" Ellis

Ace has been the Business Manager at St. Christopher's School for 8 years. His experience prior to working in independent schools includes a wide array of consumer products and service-oriented enterprises in both large corporate and small entrepreneurial settings. As Vice President, Consumer Services Crestar Bank he was responsible for their retail management information systems, branch and consumer product profitability tracking. As President of Bob Timberlake, Inc. he oversaw the creation and expansion of the third largest home furnishings and consumer products licensing organization in the US. Prior to joining St. Christopher's Ace also served as an adjunct faculty at Wake Forest University's Calloway Undergraduate School of Business. Ace is a graduate of Wake Forest University and earned his MBA at the University of Richmond. Ace enjoys coaching both at St. Christopher's and local youth sports organizations.

Tracie Ifkovits

Tracie has been the Chief Financial Officer of Hammond School for 3 years. Prior to coming to Hammond, she most recently spent 9 years with BellSouth Corporation in several positions including internal auditing, comptroller, and financial planning for international properties. Overall, Tracie has 18 years of accounting experience which includes experience working in both public and private accounting industry. Tracie earned a BS in Accounting from the University of South Carolina in 1986 and a MA in Accounting from the University of Virginia in 1987. Tracie is a CPA.

Bill Preston

Bill Preston is the Associate Head for Finance and Operations at Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, SC, a position he has held since July 2004. His prior experience had been in the business world. He was a Vice President at Citibank in New York, engaged for eleven years in a number of corporate banking positions. He subsequently was involved in various aspects of the investment business as a small-business owner, as a financier for, or participant in, other small businesses, and as a member of a financial planning firm. For about 15 years Bill was also involved as a volunteer with Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA, and Collegiate School in Richmond, VA, both of which he attended. Among his roles were Board member (EHS), head of the alumni association (EHS), Finance Committee member (Collegiate) and head of the Alumni Annual Fund (Collegiate). Bill has a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Columbia University.

Kelly Sanderson

Kelly Sanderson is the Assistant Vice President for Finance and Administration for Woodward Academy, Est. 1900, a day school of 2,865 students. She previously served as the Director of Operations and CFO for All Saints' Episcopal School of Fort Worth (Texas), a day school of appox. 800 students. Kelly has 10 years of experience as an Administrator in independent schools following 10 years of experience in public accounting and industry, specifically focusing on not-for-profit auditing and tax. Kelly has actively participated in school accreditation visits having been part of multiple visiting teams for ISAS and SAES and as a visiting team chairman for SAIS/SACS. She has presented training programs for SAES and NAES and has actively participated in ISAS and MISBO training activities. One of Kelly's significant responsibilities is the daily management of the Woodward Academy bus company, comprised of 44 employees.