Trustees Celebrate Campaign Launch, Discuss Budget Challenges

Board welcomes five new members during its first meeting of the new school year

November 17, 2009 -- Ceremony and celebration marked the opening of the fall session of the Board of Trustees, while strategy and reflection were predominant themes throughout the board’s business agenda.

More than 325 guests attended the public launch of The Campaign for Andover, Building on the Surest Foundation on Thursday, November 5. The event marked the culmination of five years of planning and cultivation, which has resulted in more than 15,000 alumni, parents and friends showing their support. To date, the campaign, which seeks to raise $300 million, has received gifts and pledges totaling $180.6 million. For more details about the campaign, visit the new campaign Web site: www.andover.edu/campaign.

On Friday, November 6, the Academy recognized the exceptional service of its volunteers and leaders. Head of School Barbara Chase opened the evening with a tribute to the late Theodore Ryland Sizer, Andover headmaster from 1972-1981 and renowned champion of education reform. “Ted Sizer led this Academy through nine years of momentous change,” Chase read from the board’s resolution. “He inspired students and their families, faculty, trustees and alumni alike to appreciate not only what Andover had been and what it stood for, but what it could become.”

The board also honored Ambassador Edward E. Elson ’52, whose dedication to Andover spans decades. He most recently served as charter trustee from 1997 to 2009. Reading from the board’s resolution, president Oscar Tang ’56, said: “You have advanced the work of this Academy with insight and vigor…A man of the well deployed joke and quote, you have graced this campus with a phrase plucked from a Yeats poem: ‘In dreams begins responsibility.’ To each new responsibility, you have dreamt of what might be best done and shot for that mark.”

Trustee Stephen Sherrill ’71, chair of the Academy Resources Committee, presented this year’s Distinguished Service Awards to: Jane Christie ’58, Elizabeth DeLucia ’85, Jennifer and Robert Grunbeck P’09, William Scott ’52 and A.C. “Tom” Shoop ’53.

Board Business

Opening the business portion of the board’s meetings, trustees welcomed five new members: Chien Lee ’71, Gary Lee ’74, Tammy Snyder Murphy ’83, Mary-Ann Somers ’82 (chair, Annual Giving Board), and Susan Donahue ’73 (president, Alumni Council).

Many of the new members joined Tang and fellow trustees, including former board president David Underwood ’54, for a working dinner with faculty on Wednesday, November 4. Discussion focused on components two and three of the Strategic Plan and was part of the board’s continuing objective to converse directly with the faculty on progress, achievements, and challenges to date.

With budget challenges continuing to weigh heavily, trustees engaged in several discussions about the Academy’s finances. While the board recognized that good progress has been made towards budget targets in FY10, a recurring theme across committee meetings was that, “We are not yet out of the woods.” The unsteady economy continues to impact philanthropy, admission, the budget, and endowment.

Chief Operating and Financial Officer Steve Carter reported on progress made towards the $6 million budget restructuring goal. He said the “A Teams” will further examine opportunities in goods and services, travel, technology, and new revenue.

Chief Investment Officer Amy Falls ’82 discussed some of the mitigating factors behind the FY09 endowment performance of -15.1 percent. In summary, Andover:

• Was not forced to sell at “fire sale” prices or deviate from its asset allocation targets
• Maintained a strategic allocation to cash
• Completed a well-timed bond issuance while maintaining AAA rating
• Intensified oversight of fund managers
• Benefited from the performance of hedge funds

In other business, the board:

• Accepted the audited financial statements for FY09
• Approved an Identity Theft Prevention Policy
• Acknowledged receipt of a portrait of Presidents George H.W. Bush ’42 (trustee emeritus) and George W. Bush ’64, commissioned by the late Thomas Nebel ’49 and painted by Chas Fagan ’84, whose works include portraits of Andover headmasters and trustees. The portrait is hanging in the Trustee Room.
• Heard a report from the Education Committee on integrative learning including the following examples:
• Flavia Vidal and Carroll Perry – Brazilian Cultural Studies
• Jacques Hugon -- Independent Projects in computer science
• Senior Scott Fleming -- award-winning astronomy project and hands-on learning at the observatory
• Chris Walter and Marcelle Doheny -- Out of Tune: Music and the State in the 20th Century

Wrapping up the fall session, special guest William Fitzsimmons, dean of admission at Harvard, joined the board on Saturday for an engaging discussion about the contemporary landscape of college admissions, in general. He also offered an inside look at Harvard’s comprehensive process and policies and how Andover students have fared in recent years within the national pool.