Announcing the 2022 Recipients of the Distinguished Business Officer and Outstanding School Support Awards

This year’s recipient of the Ken White Distinguished Business Officer Award is Nancy Greene, CPA, who is the vice president for finance and operations/CFO at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While Greene’s contributions are many, perhaps her most distinctive is her numerous and highly regarded presentations, as delivered on the faculty of multiple NBOA Business Officer Institutes or at many NBOA Annual Meetings. Her expertise ranges from facilities management and debt financing to enterprise risk management. In short, Greene’s commitment to learn deeply about the many facets of the business officer role, and in turn, share with her colleagues and the greater NBOA community, places her in a class nearly all her own. “It is hard to imagine someone else who could match Nancy's energy and willingness to share expertise on a national level,” wrote one nominator. “If I were starting a school tomorrow, the first person I would hire would be Nancy Greene.”

“If I were starting a school tomorrow, the first person I would hire would be Nancy Greene.”

One notable example of this leadership includes serving on the task force that tested and developed the Composite Financial Index (CFI) calculator for independent schools. This group helped make a sophisticated tool that had long been used by higher education useful for independent schools. Now available in NBOA’s BIIS data analysis platform, the CFI helps business officers think strategically about their institution's overall financial health and communicate succinctly about it with other leaders. Characteristically, Greene has presented her schools’ CFI work in multiple national programs to help other schools communicate and plan strategically.

Greene served two terms on the NBOA Board of Directors, during which time she chaired the strategic initiatives committee and assisted with the development of the NBOA Financial Dashboard. Greene provides leadership to the Florida Council of Independent Schools; sits on the board of directors for FICURMA, a consortium of schools that cooperatively purchases insurance; and is a longstanding member of the Association of Business Officers of Independent Schools (ABOIS). Her career in independent school business, finance and operations has spanned 27 years, including many years at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, and Saint Edward’s School in South Beach, Florida, prior to accepting her role at Pine Crest in 2018.

Brad Rathgeber is the recipient of this year’s Sarah Daignault Outstanding Support of Independent Schools Award. Rathgeber is the head of school and CEO of One Schoolhouse, a partner to independent schools in providing online learning, professional development for academic leaders, and thought leadership on the horizon of K-12 education. One Schoolhouse began as a consortium of four girls’ schools that became the first single-gender online school and the world’s first online independent school, then called the Online School for Girls. As the organization’s first chief executive, Rathgeber has overseen growth in audience, enrollment and offerings, and now One Schoolhouse serves students of all genders as well as adults through its professional development programming for independent school leaders. “The business model allows schools of all sizes to engage,” wrote one nominator.

NBOA’s robust online courses would not be a meaningful part of NBOA’s professional development portfolio were it not for One Schoolhouse, and in particular Rathgeber.

NBOA’s robust online courses would not be a meaningful part of NBOA’s professional development portfolio were it not for One Schoolhouse, and in particular Rathgeber. At a time when independent schools and associations were just understanding the potential of online delivery, One Schoolhouse provided a platform and pedagogical support to NBOA. This platform has educated countless business officers and business operations staff, in addition to other school leaders, for nearly a decade. Alongside NBOA staff members, Rathgeber continues to teach “Budget Meets Mission: School Finance for Non-Business Leaders,” an online course he helped design that provides business and financial acumen for heads of school, academic leaders, admissions and advancement professionals.

Rathgeber served on the NBOA Board of Directors for six years and was appointed to the executive committee, culminating in his election as board secretary for three consecutive years. He has contributed to NBOA’s Net Assets magazine and has been a regular speaker at NBOA Annual Meetings and Business Officer Institutes. Prior to One Schoolhouse, Rathgeber was a teacher and administrator at Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland, and before that worked in higher education at Harvard University and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

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