Webinars

Kathleen Brown, Sc.D., Senior Scientist, Environmental Health & Engineering Inc.

Kathleen Brown, Sc.D., is a senior scientist at Environmental Health & Engineering. Her extensive exposure assessment work includes evaluations of potentially contaminated building materials, air, soil and drinking water — and preparing health risk assessments for these exposures. Having worked in city government, Brown brings a practical understanding of financial and staffing constraints when planning implementation of environmental and public health policies. As a top analyst, she helps organizations assemble and process data to serve compliance requirements and builds in straightforward steps to complete performance reviews and annual updates. She is also an elected member of the board of health for the town of Needham, MA.

Jennifer Hillen , CPA, CGMA, Chief Learning Officer, National Business Officers Association

Jennifer Osland Hillen, CPA, CGMA, is NBOA's chief learning officer. She serves as a strategic partner to the president and CEO and leads the staff team charged with delivering the association’s broad and diverse portfolio of programs, industry guidance, and resources to members and constituents across multiple delivery channels, including many partnerships with other associations serving independent schools. She serves the NBOA Board of Directors’ Diversity, Equity & Inclusion task force and leads NBOA’s volunteer Business Officers Council, in addition to serving as a subject-matter expert on finance, accounting, tax, and other independent school business, operations, governance, and legal matters important to independent school practitioners and leaders. Hillen also serves on the teaching faculty for the Master of Education in Independent School Leadership program at Vanderbilt University’s Department of Leadership, Policy & Organizations at Peabody College.

Grace H. Lee Esq., NBOA Legal Counsel and Partner, Education Practice, Venable LLP

Grace H. Lee is a partner with Venable, LLP in the labor and employment practice. Lee has extensive experience helping schools implement compliant policies and adopt preventative strategies, and she has defended schools against claims regarding employment discrimination, harassment, retaliatory discharge, and wage and hour violations before administrative agencies and federal and state courts. She currently serves as NBOA’s legal counsel. Lee holds a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School and a B.A. from Northwestern University.

Brittany Schwartz, Staff Scientist, Environmental Health & Engineering Inc.

Brittany Schwartz is a staff scientist at Environmental Health & Engineering. In her role in the analytics division, Schwartz ‘s projects include data management, document review, literature searches and quality control. She supported the opening and operation of summer camps during the pandemic through coordination with medical experts and resource development for camp administrators.

Will Wade, Principal Consultant, Environmental Health & Engineering Inc.

Will Wade leads multidisciplinary teams in the education and commercial division to solve a broad range of industrial hygiene and environmental challenges at Environmental Health & Engineering. He has extensive expertise managing assessments involving indoor environmental quality, mold, moisture, fire damage and hazardous building materials. Wade is an expert in workplace exposure assessment design, measurement strategies and data analysis. He also conducts risk assessments, develops risk communications, and leads staff training sessions. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Wade has worked extensively with independent schools and universities across the country to provide guidance documents, presentations, and ongoing support.

Elizabeth Dabney, Director, Research and Data Analysis, National Business Officers Association

Elizabeth Dabney is NBOA’s director, research, and data analysis. She oversees the development, planning and management of industry research collected in NBOA’s data collection platform, Business Intelligence for Independent Schools (BIIS), and serves as an expert on independent school research. Prior to joining NBOA, Dabney served for seven years as the director, research and policy analysis at the Data Quality Campaign, a nonprofit education policy and advocacy organization.

Mark J. Mitchell, Vice President, National Association of Independent Schools

Mark Mitchell is vice president at NAIS. He has spent more than 20 years supporting K-12 schools and other organizations in the effective administration of financial aid programs to improve the accessibility, affordability, and socio-economic diversity of independent schools. Mitchell has published widely and is also a member of the NAIS Strategy Lab team. An alumnus and past trustee of Moorestown Friends School in New Jersey, he is currently a trustee of NBOA and Lowell School in Washington, D.C., and is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Partnership for Educational Access.

James Palmieri, Ed.D., Executive Vice President, National Business Officers Association

James Palmieri, Ed.D., is NBOA’s executive vice president. He serves as a partner to NBOA’s President and CEO in carrying out strategic initiatives as directed by the NBOA strategic plan, and he supports program and product expansion in partnership with members of the senior staff. Prior to joining NBOA, Palmieri served for five years as assistant head of school at Trinity Hall, an all-girls high school, and director of strategic initiatives and faculty at Kent Place School, a nursery-grade 12 all-girls day school in New Jersey.

Karen McCann McClelland, Director of Auxiliary Programs, Sidwell Friends School

Karen McCann McClelland is director of auxiliary programs at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC. She oversees facility rentals, before and after school care programs, transportation, and summer programs at Sidwell Friends. A recognized thought leader, she brings over 25 years of experience in creating profitable and mission-driven auxiliary programs within independent schools.

Bob Rojee, Director of Auxiliary Programs, The Wheeler School

Bob Rojee is the Director of Auxiliary Programs at the Wheeler School, a nursery-grade 12 day school in Providence, Rhode Island. He has worked for two independent schools over the past ten years. With over 25 years of organizational experience in both not-for-profit and for-profit, including a start-up sports/recreation business, he is a recognized leader in the independent school auxiliary programming community. Rojee also serves on the Advisory Board of SPARC, the Summer Programs and Auxiliary Revenue Collaborative.

Nat Saltonstall, Executive Director, SPARC (Summer Programs and Auxiliary Revenue Collaborative)

Saltonstall is the founder and executive director of SPARC, the Summer Programs and Auxiliary Revenue Collaborative, which serves independent schools and their auxiliary program leaders with professional development opportunities and resources that advance their auxiliary programming. Over the past 30 years, he has developed and directed high performing summer and auxiliary programs at multiple independent schools while also providing targeted guidance to others through his consulting services.

Alisa Evans, Founder and Managing Partner, Mission Enrollment Strategy Solutions, LLC

Alisa Evans is founder and managing partner at Mission Enrollment, which works with more than 45 independent schools across the U.S. to process financial aid applications. With more than 20 years of experience in independent schools and higher education institutions, she helps schools deliver aid programs and use financial aid tools that provide every child with an equal opportunity to receive an excellent education. She resides in Redlands, California.

Anita Harper, Senior Account Manager, Community Brands

Anita Harper has worked with more than 1,800 K-12 schools in different roles over the past 15 years. She is now a senior account manager with Community Brands, which owns the School and Student Services (SSS) financial aid platform. She currently sits on the financial aid committee and admissions board of an independent school. Before her time at Community Brands, she worked as a national director at NAIS. She resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Noah Buxton, Managing Director, Blockchain and Digital Assets Practice, Armanino LLP

Noah Buxton leads Armanino’s blockchain and digital assets practice, and has more than 10 years of audit, legal, IT and regulatory compliance experience. Buxton is also a member of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the California Bar Association, and International Association of Privacy Professionals. He holds certifications for the Linux Foundation's Hyperledger permissioned blockchain and is a certified HITRUST CSF practitioner.

Kathy Ferguson, Audit Senior Manager, Armanino LLP

Kathy Ferguson is a nonprofit senior audit manager at Armanino. She has over 19 years of accounting and auditing experience, with a focus on nonprofit entities. Ferguson provides guidance on best practice recommendations and the proper reporting and presentation of financial statements. She holds a B.A. in accounting from Texas A&M Commerce and is a member of the AICPA and the Texas Society of Public Accountants.

Dean Quiambao, Chief Relationship Builder, Armanino LLP

Dean Quiambao is a business development partner and chief relationship builder with Armanino. For more than 20 years, he has helped independent schools across the country address their tax, audit, and outsourced accounting needs. Quiambao is a frequent speaker for private school associations, including NBOA, Cal-ISBOA, PAISBOA, FCIS and MISBO. He holds a B.S. in managerial economics from University of California, Davis and attended De La Salle High School in Concord, California. He maintains his membership within the American Institute of CPAs, California Society of CPAs, and the National Business Officers Association (NBOA).

Grace H. Lee Esq., NBOA Legal Counsel and Partner, Education Practice, Venable LLP

Grace H. Lee is a partner with Venable, LLP in the labor and employment practice. Lee has extensive experience helping schools implement compliant policies and adopt preventative strategies, and she has defended schools against claims regarding employment discrimination, harassment, retaliatory discharge, and wage and hour violations before administrative agencies and federal and state courts. She currently serves as NBOA’s legal counsel. Lee holds a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School and a B.A. from Northwestern University.

Caryn Pass, Chair, Education Practice, Venable LLP

Caryn Pass has represented independent schools for over 25 years. As chair of Venable’s Education Practice, she advises over 200 schools nationwide on a wide range of legal issues. She tracks trends specific to independent schools and develops industry best practice. She works with schools on legal issues raised by students, parents, employees, trustees, donors, alumni, neighbors, and vendors by establishing policies, procedures, and strategies that promote positive working and learning environments while limiting potential liability exposure. She regularly presents at NBOA and NAIS annual conferences and regional and professional associations.