The Hill School
Jim has been an independent school business officer for 33 years. Since 2002, he has been Assistant Headmaster for Financial and Business Operations, Treasurer, and Secretary of The Hill School. His tenure at The Hill School follows positions at Albuquerque Academy, George School, and St. Mark's School of Texas. Jim earned an MBA at the University of New Mexico and came to the business office by way of private commerce, having worked as a credit analyst and commercial loan officer at First National Bank in Albuquerque. He is a founding member of the following organizations: School College and University Underwriters, Ltd.; Independent School Association of the Southwest Business Officers' Council; Association of Business Officers of Independent Schools; and NBOA.
Net Assets talked to Jim Kirkpatrick, the 2007 winner of the Ken White Award and current president of the NBOA board.
I grew up as an entrepreneur in my father's business. I just have that spirit. When independent schools in the Southwest were faced with a need to connect, we got together. President Reagan had frozen wages at that point, and it was unclear what would happen next. It was clear that we would need to connect in future, and we established the Independent School Association of the Southwest Business Officers' Council.
In another instance, the owner of a daycare facility was accused of improprieties and it killed insurance for officers and directors in education across the country. We couldn't get insurance. So we started an offshore company that turned out to be School College and University Underwriters, Ltd. Each time there was an issue and something happened that needed a response, I was there with a bunch of my colleagues – and we did it. It was sure a heck of a lot of fun.
To connect with faculty and staff and administrators. Those who receive MBAs are usually pumped up to think they're pretty bright, and have it all together. I come from the for-profit world, not non-profit. When I finally learned to listen to my colleagues, I became much more effective. I got in the classroom, got onto the athletic fields, and gained the perspective of teachers.
You have to get out of that business office so you can see things differently. When you get in the classroom and learn what the teachers are doing and seeing, and you get with the students, you gain a different perspective on the school.
We must figure out a way for our institutions to become financially sustainable. We are raising tuitions at about twice the rate of CPI, and we're not at the point yet where we need to be with faculty salaries. We're engaged in a physical plant race with other schools, and a race to increase faculty salaries, and we have an urgent feeling we need to compete. We've been saying for twenty years that we can't go on like this, but we're going to have to face it. We need to be in a position to compete with charter schools and home school programs.
We need to help our schools figure out ways for teachers to have more impact than fifteen students per class, for instance. NBOA is uniquely positioned to help schools face this challenge.
[Like many in his profession, Jim is blessed with commendable humility: he had trouble answering this question, though most of us could easily have named several for him.] I think, perhaps, for NBOA, I am most proud of enabling the great NBOA staff to grow and thrive as they have. I'm proud of making sure we hired the right people, and then of getting out of the way.
Besides the professional ability to handle accounting issues, spreadsheets, and budgeting, the single most important quality for a successful business officer is to be able to listen. You need to put yourself in the place of a faculty member, or whoever you're talking to. If we business officers can't connect with educators, we're going to fail.
It is absolutely critical to give back to others. When you have been mentored, and you reach a point in your career where you have some wisdom to pass on, it's critical that you give back. We share. It's critical in our industry; we're usually one of a kind at our schools, and reaching out is the source for new ideas, and help for most of our challenges. If you were at the Symposium banquet, you heard about my grandmother Clarella. The kinds of things she did to enable others – her selflessness – those are the things that will make a business officer successful.
Interview conducted by Julie Kaewert. Orginally published in V.33 of Net Assets, March 2007.