Modernizing Governance Today, Preparing for Tomorrow: The UNM Foundation’s Boardroom Journey-Recording

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The webinar “Modernizing Governance Today: Preparing for Tomorrow,” hosted by Kristy Grimm and Becca Meshberger, features Nicole Reeves from the UNM Foundation sharing their journey of transitioning from a legacy board governance platform to OnBoard. Initially, the UNM Foundation faced significant challenges with their old platform, including disorganized document storage, poor security, problematic calendaring that did not sync properly, and cumbersome communication methods. These issues made governance processes clunky and time-consuming for staff though board members had a polished final experience.<br /><br />The turning point for change came gradually, fueled by frustrations with the legacy system’s limitations and encouragement from leadership. Nicole emphasized the importance of peer input and beta testing in evaluating new platforms, highlighting that OnBoard offered hands-on trials, strong security, and responsiveness to user feedback—key non-negotiables for their foundation.<br /><br />During the rollout, UNM took advantage of a flexible timeline, involving key stakeholders including IT and board members early on to ensure buy-in. Training sessions and transitional parallel use of both platforms helped ease adoption. The switch brought considerable workflow improvements: streamlined scheduling, secure information sharing, electronic voting that increased participation, and efficient survey administration—all reducing administrative burdens while professionalizing the board’s operations.<br /><br />Looking forward, the discussion addressed AI’s growing role in governance. While interest and exploration of AI tools are high among boards, actual implementation remains limited. Security and preserving human judgment were noted as priorities. Overall, Nicole’s experience demonstrates that with thoughtful planning, collaboration, and testing, modernizing governance technology can significantly enhance higher education board operations.

Keywords

Modernizing governance

UNM Foundation

OnBoard platform

Board governance challenges

Document management

Security in governance

User feedback

Workflow improvements

Electronic voting

AI in governance