Florida Higher Education Summit & FACRAO Annual Conference
June 3-7, 2012

The 4th Annual Florida Higher Education Summit

By all measures the Summit and FACRAO Conference held June 3-7, 2012 in St. Augustine were a resounding success. In terms of attendance we have not seen that many (180+) at the FACRAO Conference for quite some time. The Renaissance World Golf Village Resort and Conference center was a terrific venue for both the guest rooms and conference facilities. This was our first conference at the Renaissance and the staff treated us very well. The conference support staff did an awesome job. Your Executive Committee is looking forward to repeating the experience next year when we return. It is always so much easier when you stay at the same facility two years in a row.

Speaking of the Executive Committee, I must compliment them and the other members that make up the Summit Planning Group, (Michael Hutley and Kathy Bucklew from FCRAO and Steven Auerbach from the BOG) for all their outstanding work in preparation and planning for the conference. This group meets three times in the fall and spring to put the conference together and spends countless hours working on all the details that go into making Summit the success that it is. I can’t thank this hardworking team enough and remember our next meeting is in October.

We achieved a milestone at this year’s conference with the graduation of our first three FISEM graduates. Megan Kuehner presented Christy Pasnisin, Deborah Bradford and Raphel Robinson their certificates at the Annual Business Meeting. Well done and we look forward to awarding certificates each year from now on.

The annual Business Meeting also saw the election of our new Executive Committee. New to the team are: Vice President for Communications and Member Relations, Raphel Robinson; Treasurer, Edwin Sanchez; Secretary, Marilyn Brislin; Corporate Sponsor Liaison, Sheri Newble-Dunn; and Florida Tour Liaison, Donna Bostwick. We said farewell to three departing EC members: John Yancey after 5 years of dedicated hard work including one year as President, Renee Simpson after three years as Treasurer and Kathy Allen after two years as Secretary. Kathy also retired from New College of Florida in April after a long and distinguished career and we wish her a happy retirement.

The FACRAO Conference program listed 46 sessions for Monday and Tuesday!!! Congratulations to first year Vice President for Professional Development, Holly Kickliter, for putting together such a full program. And of course many thanks to all the presenters, after all, the conference would not happen without your valuable contributions. We received positive feedback on the variety of topics offered and we look forward to what we are sure will be another great program in 2013.

This year we used a new registration system provided by Cvent. Graduate Program Director, Barbara Rodriguez and Steven Auerbach spent a lot of time setting up the process; the end result was timely and in-depth information for the committee and a much more comprehensive and easier registration process for the attendees. We look forward to an even better system next year as we continue to take advantage of the systems many features.

What would a FACRAO conference be without our signature Big Event? Caddy Shacks was a blast! We were happy to have the band KTG once again perform for us (that’s three times for those counting) and I am sure everyone had more than enough to eat. I did not realize that we had so many dancers! It will be tough to top for next year but we will try.

Speaking of next year, as I mentioned we will be back at the Renaissance World Golf Resort and the dates are June 2-6, 2013. Karen Beckett, President and Sherrie Crean, President Elect, have already started the planning process. You can help by completing the online conference evaluation.

See you all next year,

R. Marc Laviolette
Immediate Past President