2022-2023 the Year in Review

I have really enjoyed my time serving as the SACUBO President over the past year. The year seemed to fly by as SACUBO had its normal year packed full of professional development opportunities for college and university business staff from across the southeastern United States. Professional development and networking are two things that I think are invaluable to higher ed business officers. I may be biased, but I don’t think anyone does professional development and networking opportunities quite like SACUBO. Our region of the country has some of the best cities to visit, and we make sure our members have a good time at our conferences and bring innovative ideas back home to their campuses. I think we definitely accomplished our mission in 2022-2023!

In addition to our great conferences and workshops, this was a year of transition for SACUBO as we welcomed a new association management company in SBI. Following an extensive RFP process, SACUBO signed a contract and started working with SBI in October 2022. SBI handles the day-to-day operations of SACUBO and works closely with the SACUBO executive officers on the management of our SACUBO conferences, workshops, and events. They also provide event management, financial services, and website management. We really appreciate all of the support that SBI provided to SACUBO over the past year!

Our thanks to NACUBO for supporting the day-to-day management of SACUBO for the past five years and all the support the NACUBO staff has given to SACUBO. I would like to give a big shout out to Dana Neill with NACUBO for all the conference support her and her team have provided over the years to SACUBO. I would also like to thank Chris Martin, our former Administrative Director, for his dedication to SACUBO and the exceptional support he provided the Board. We will greatly miss the dedication and professionalism they provided to SACUBO over the past several years.

The 2022-2023 year officially kicked off with a Planning Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia in early June for the board to outline initiatives and goals for the year. This is where the SACUBO Constituent Committees brainstorm ideas for upcoming SACUBO conference sessions. The work we do at our planning meeting sets the stage for the conferences and workshops for the upcoming year. 

The College Business Management Institute (CBMI) returned to the University of Kentucky campus in July 2022 for the first time since July 2019. COVID interrupted this great program for two years and thank goodness we were able to get back together to continue this fantastic summer SACUBO tradition! We had over 530 attendees representing 224 institutions across 27 different states. I was able to attend the closing banquet and speak to the impressive group of graduates and attendees. Special thanks to Drew Ard and her team at the University of Kentucky for getting this program restarted and putting on a fantastic professional development program!   

In September 2022, we held a board retreat in St. Petersburg, Florida to further plan and discuss the upcoming change in our management services company. One of our big topics of conversation was to start getting future SACUBO events on the calendar. COVID definitely put a wrench in our plans when many of our conferences and workshops had to be cancelled. 

The Fall Workshop took place November 9-11, 2022 in Savannah, Georgia with a record attendance of 440 attendees. Ryan Jenkins and Lisa Sun were the keynote speakers, and 16 hours of CPE credits were available to attendees. We had to deal with Hurricane Nicole as it impacted the weather around Savannah the last two days of our conference. You know things could get rough when the Weather Channel is at your conference hotel broadcasting live. Thankfully, we were able to weather the storm and had a full house despite the bad weather. A big thank you to Darrell Duncan and his host committee for a great time in Savannah! 

The Women’s Leadership Forum was held March 1-3, 2023 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The theme was “Building an Engaged and Healthy Future,” and registration topped out at 180 attendees, which was a sellout. Sessions took place at TIAA’s fantastic facility in Charlotte and also on the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s campus. TIAA has been a great partner to SACUBO, and they are always willing to step in and lend us their expertise for a session and the use of their top-notch facilities. Thank you, TIAA! Special thanks go out to Debbie Walker and her Women’s Leadership Team who put on an outstanding program this year!

The 2023 Annual Meeting took place in Tampa at the Tampa Marriott Water Street in April, 2023. The theme was “TAP into Your Potential in TPA,” and we had over 500 registered attendees. The program included 48 different sessions with a total of 15 CPEs available. We had our opening reception at the Tampa Bay History Center and definitely got a taste of the culture of the Tampa Bay area. In addition, the 2023 Distinguished Service Award went to Patrick Wamsley, Chief Financial Officer of the Medical University of South Carolina and long-time volunteer of SACUBO. Patrick has exemplified what service to higher education really means through his 40+ year career. I owe a great deal of gratitude to Noel Sloan for her hard work preparing for this Annual Meeting. She was the steady hand behind the scenes of putting on a great conference that had its share of roadblocks and obstacles during the planning. Thanks Noel, and great job!

My sincere thanks to each of the SACUBO board members and constituent committee members for all their hard work and commitment to SACUBO throughout the year. I am extremely proud of the work we did this year and the outstanding quality of our workshops and conferences. Each of you were instrumental in making this a tremendously successful year! 

John Crawford
SACUBO President (2022-2023)