NAPAHE Strategic Plan
(Revised July 2008)
Mission Statement
NAPAHE enhances the profession of its members through programs, networking and information resources that address the broad range of roles fulfilled by presidential assistants in service to presidential leadership and higher education.
The NAPAHE strategic plan outlines the goals, objectives and actions required to successfully fulfill its mission.
Professional Development
Goal: NAPAHE will provide programs and services that respond to the professional development needs of presidential assistants.
Objective A: To regularly present an Annual Meeting of high quality and great appeal attracting at least 200 diverse representatives. [Conference Committee]
Actions necessary to achieve objective:
1. Institutionalize procedures for program creation and management
2. Create programs serving members needs
3. Improvethe meeting registration process
Objective B: Professional Prestige: NAPAHE will strive to achieve widespread recognition of the professional status of Presidential Assistants and broader familiarity with NAPAHE in the higher education community. NAPAHE will be seen (and listed) as a peer organization with the other national associations of higher education administrators [Communications]
Actions necessary to achieve objective:
1. Better articulate the NAPAHE mission and the PA role
2. Better publicize NAPAHE's existence, purpose, and value, particularly to organizations that offer other higher education professional development programs (e.g., Harvard’sIEM, MDP, MLE).
3. Consider other ways to promote professional prestige
Objective C: Professional Growth: NAPAHE will provide its members with information, support and networking opportunities to foster the attainment of advanced academic degrees and other recognized credentials and occasions for upward mobility in the field.
Actions necessary to achieve objective:
1. Create and disseminate an inventory of appropriate higher education master’s and doctoral degree programs;
2. Establish relationships with professional development experiences such as Harvard’s higher education leadership, the ACE Fellows program, and management institutes to encourage and facilitate member candidacy;
3. Create a mentoring program that links experienced PAs with PAs new to the position;
4. Work with ACE to develop a year-long professional development partnership that will benefit members of both organizations;
5. Collect and maintain a web-based repository of position openings that may be of interest to Presidential Assistants;
6. Whenever possible, organize and present professional development workshops during the annual NAPAHE conference.
Objective D: Membership Services - Enhance the value of association with NAPAHE by creating services responsive to members professional development needs [Communications]
Actions necessary to achieve objective:
1. Enhance membership communications by:
a. Improving reliability and utility of the Newsletter
b. Maintaining and furthering the value of the NAPANET listserv or other real-time communication technology
c. Maintaining and furthering the value of the NAPAHE web site
Organizational Development
Goal: To grow and develop the programs, services, diversity, structure and finances of the NAPAHE organization necessary to support the development of its members and the enhancement of the professional of presidential assistant
Objective A: Maintain membership of at least 400 and grow by at least 5% a year (stretch target of 10%) [Membership]
Actions necessary to achieve objective:
1. Developing regular membership campaign process with established goals
2. Providing increased opportunities for involvement of members in the work of standing committees
3. Providing opportunities to strengthen the racial and ethnic diversity of the organization
Objective B: Expand the network of state associations/affiliations to achieve at least 25 state / regional meetings in five (5) years [Membership]
Actions necessary to achieve objective:
1. Work actively to cultivate and support state and regional associations
2. Widely share successful models of state / regional associations among membership
Objective C: Relationship with American Council on Education – Expand, clarify and make more systematic our relationship with ACE [Board Executive Committee]
Actions necessary to achieve objective:
1. Initiate discussions with ACE leadership to expand and enhance our relationship with ACE analogous to the enhanced relationship between the Board Professional Staff group and the Association of Governing Boards (AGB)
2. Establish a specific time frame in advance of the annual meeting for signing the agreement
3. Establish standard parameters defining our financial relationship with ACE regarding the annual meeting
4. Reach agreement with ACE as to ACE national meeting sessions to be open to NAPAHE member conference attendees
Objective D: Board Operation – Develop and maintain a NAPAHE Board of Directors that can guide the growth and development of the association [Nominating]
Actions necessary to achieve objective:
Assure that leaders can provide active leadership, that members’ needs are met and that the organization prospers by:
1. Investigating organizational effectiveness issues and addressing deficiencies
2. Assuring that new leadership talent is consistently recruited
3. Developing systematic recruitment and nomination processes
4. Developing a board manual
5. Develop a succession planning procedure
Objective E:Financial Stability– Achieve revenues that support the desired level of programming and organizational activity [Finance]
Actions necessary to achieve objective:
Balance or achieve small surplus in all budgets by:
1. Developing a business plan
2. Creating a fundraising group
3. Creating and operating an annual fund-raising campaign
4. Developing an "organizational" sponsor support opportunity of $7,500-$10,000
Expand the pool of potential donors to at least three (3) regular sources that can cover at least the bulk of annual program costs by:
1. Developing recurring sponsors
2. Develop additional revenue sources and in-kind service sources by expanding sales of NAPAHE services