Bridging the Governance Gap

Advance governance together through shared insight and action. 

Bridging the Governance Gap is a multisession, virtual workshop series designed for boards to address what’s standing in their way when it comes best supporting their school and to generate innovative strategies to cultivate a thriving board structure and culture for the future. 

Each year, reflective governance assessments surface critical gaps in board practices—but how often do these insights lead to real change? In this interactive session, heads of school, board chairs, and governance committee leaders come together to identify their most pressing governance challenges and co-design strategies for strengthening board performance. Grounded in data and driven by collaboration, this workshop series offers structured frameworks for translating reflection into actionable next steps. Leave with an individualized professional development plan for your board, as well as a clear set of priorities and innovative approaches tailored to your school’s unique governance journey.

Pre- and Post-Session Details: In the pre-workshop session, registered schools analyze your board assessment data and other sources to guide your strategic work. In the post-workshop session, boards can join to discuss implementation progress, next steps, and strategies for tracking metrics both in the near and long term to maintain momentum around your innovation efforts. 

Topics Covered

  • Your school’s vision in connection with the challenges or opportunities that exist around governance
  • Data to assess the current functions and priorities of the board, which will be leveraged to target key areas of growth
  • Tools for designing and communicating board professional development opportunities and new strategic directions

Lead Facilitators

  • Anne-Marie Balzano, senior governance strategist, mission and data
  • Hilary LaMonte, senior vice president of DASL, NAIS
  • Mark Mitchell, vice president of access and affordability, NAIS
  • Jackie Wolking, director of innovation programs, NAIS

Registration Information

The deadline to register is Wednesday, March 25, 2026 due to the pre-workshop session and the prework required to complete prior to the session start date.

Schools select up to six participants to make up their workshop team. The ideal team includes three to six participants. The minimum number of school participants is three people. Individuals or pairs are not recommended due to the significant amount of teamwork time built into the agenda. You need to know the number of participants at the time of registration. You can make updates to the attendee names that fill your spots until two weeks before the event. There are no discounts for schools that decide not to send participants to either the pre- or post-workshop sessions.

Cancellations must be received in writing at strategylab@nais.org. Cancellations received up to 30 days before the program’s start date (February 23) will be fully refunded, less a $75 administration fee. Cancellations received fewer than 30 days prior to the program will not be refunded.

Please contact strategylab@nais.org or (202) 973-9700 with any questions.

Dates

Pre-Session: March 26, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET

Main Sessions: 

  • April 21, 2026, 12:00 – 2:00 PM ET
  • April 23, 2026, 12:00 – 2:00 PM ET

Post-Session: June 24, 2025, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET

Location

Online

Audience

This is a team-based experience (up to six people), so we recommend the head of school, board chair, governance committee chair, and other trustees attend.

Cost

$575 per person (members) $795 per person (nonmembers) *Minimum 3 people per team.
Register