facing challenges and creating successes
Dear Friends, T ere are only two times in my career as
a head when we have accomplished as much as we have the last four years—and they were both times when I had the same board president to work with for four years. It helps that both presidents were incredibly smart, incredibly committed, professionally trained, and full of energy and a can-do attitude. OES has been lucky to have Kate Lieber
willing to serve as Board President for four years—she has accelerated our ability to take on big projects and to succeed. She has truly been stellar—serving above and beyond expectations. Kate complete her service on June 30 as Board President, but she will remain a member of the Board as Past President for one more year. Below is what Kate has accomplished.
We can call them the KCs, the Kate Competencies: She explored the archives, policies, and
procedures in order to understand how the school functions and to understand our story. She created new systems by recrafting
the bylaws, building our new work plans and charters, and developing processes for bringing on and training trustees. She connected to donors, to all of
us, to people in the community. She has been highly inclusive as she worked to hear and understand all voices. She is incredibly committed to the
school. She has done extraordinary heavy lifting, mostly behind the scenes
to make our operations as a board as strong as our academic program. She has lost sleep, met with donors and potential board members, all with the one vision of making OES the best school in the world. T e school we are meant to be. I have a very best friend whom I lived
next door to, and have known since I was two. We have been close all of this time: in fact, she went down the Colorado River with us this spring break, through the rapids of the Grand Canyon. Nan has come on numerous Copeland
adventures over the years, in addition to the Grand Canyon. She went on the Bailey Traverse with me, the Ptarmigan Traverse, the Via Alpina (the Alpine Traverse in Austria), kayaking the Queen Charlotte Islands—a bunch of great trips. On the Ptarmigan, she coined the
phrase “petrifi cations,” as in, “How many petrifi cations will there be today?” She didn’t really like this part of our trips. On the Ptarmigan it meant crossing snow and ice, particularly when steep and unprotected. On kayak trips it meant rough waves, whales, and high currents. She was an incredibly good sport, and stuck with it, though a few years ago she said she would never again do any trip with us that had the word “traverse” in it. Over the last four years, Kate and I
have had our share of “petrifi cations.” T ere have been issues, challenges, and
big decisions—all of them causing us to go to bed at night thinking, I hope there are no new petrifi cations in the morning. T e thing about petrifi cations is this: It is
all about whom you are traveling with. T ere is a reason my closest friend came back time after time even though she knew there would be fresh challenges—we faced those challenges together, and became close partners as a result. T e school has been lucky to have Kate to
face challenges and create successes. I have been lucky to have worked with her, and built an incredible friendship. I am personally enriched by this friendship, and so is the school. And while I hope there will not be too
many petrifi cations in the future, I am confi dent we will traverse any challenges skillfully because of our capable leaders. We wish Kate well in her transition, and welcome with pleasure Elizabeth Gewecke as she steps into her role as Board President.
Warmly,
Mo Copeland @MoCopelandOES
Summer 2016 5
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44