For Headquarters Professionals
Schedule
December 6, 2023 - May 8, 2024
Twelve bi-weekly sessions
Wednesdays, 12:00-1:30 p.m. Eastern
Program Details
There are more director-level leadership roles within fraternity/sorority life than there have ever been. Meanwhile, few professionals have formal training in how to manage a department, and the complexities involved in the job are only increasing. This calls for more advanced training on strategy, operations management, and departmental leadership for those taking on the position.
RISE created the EXCEL Summit, in partnership with FEA, to meet that need with insights from decades of professional experience, organization design literature, and the best thinking on organizational leadership in fraternity/sorority life. Designed specifically for those currently running a fraternity/sorority headquarters department, EXCEL is an intensive online training experience that develops participants' executive leadership abilities and builds their expertise in designing a department.
Objectives
EXCEL prepares participants to:
Identify and map the core components of a department
Gain technical knowledge in:
Identifying and tracking department objectives,
Generating and allocating resources
Developing operational systems, and
Organizing and developing personnel
Use a strategic management framework to align each component of the department with organizational characteristics and objectives
Develop executive leadership skills for directing a department
The Experience
Think of this as an applied course. Each session involves an hour of instruction followed by small group coaching sessions, where participants work with peers from similar organizations and functional areas to apply lessons learned. Participants complete work assignments between sessions to apply lessons directly in their job. The program follows an institute format, with interconnected content that builds on itself; many insights emerge not just from the content, but from the group dialogue.
Participants
The HQ EXCEL Summit is designed specifically for current chief operating officers, assistant executive directors, or director-level staff across functional areas such as chapter services, alumni engagement, volunteer development, education, health and safety, accountability, and more.
The program requires that participants have some level of direct experience leading multiple aspects of a fraternity/sorority department. While program content will be informative to any fraternity/sorority professional, it may not be relevant or appropriate for those who are not a lead decision-maker in a department or those who have fewer than 5 years of post-graduate experience.
This event is open to those employed by FEA member organizations. Attendance is capped at 24 participants so we can provide a personalized experience.
REGISTRATION
Registration will open in October. The cost to attend is $675 per participant, which includes program attendance, guided work assignments between sessions, coaching sessions with faculty, all program materials, and supplemental resources before and after the program.
Before you register, make sure you are prepared to:
Attend and participate fully in every session
Schedule time to complete work assignments between sessions
Share relevant institutional information
Collect the following information:
Name
Headquarters
Title
Email Address
Mailing Address for EXCEL Summit Materials
Payment information
Current Role
Faculty
Dan Wrona is the CEO & Project Leader of RISE Partnerships, where he has worked with more than 300 campuses and 30 organizations over the past 22 years. He has also served as a university administrator, a national fraternity staff member, and as a consultant on NIC staff. Dan combines lessons from his MBA and his obsession with systems theory, organizational leadership, and productivity hacks to guide professionals in how to produce better results from their work in fraternity/sorority life.
Melissa Kish currently serves at the Executive Director for Sigma Delta Tau Sorority. She has served as a chapter advisor, National volunteer and officer, Fraternity Headquarters Chief Operating Officer, NIC staff member and university administrator with experience spanning campus recreation, wellness, fraternity/ sorority life, and leadership programs. Melissa believes in helping professionals at all levels think smarter about the work they do. Her daily mantra is: As students are dealing with big challenges, those who work closest with them to be at the top of their game - because that is what the students deserve.
Viancca Williams, Ph.D., (she/her/ella) is the Director of Leadership and Education at Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. Originally from Santurce, Puerto Rico, Viancca has worked in non-profit training and development, the insurance industry, higher education (specifically, fraternity and sorority life), and in association management before transitioning to serve the fraternal industry in a headquarters role. Her award-winning dissertation focused on the retention and attrition factors of campus-based fraternity/sorority professionals led to an interest in further research and practice focused on talent development, effective supervision, and successful organizational structures. Viancca is an active volunteer of her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, and travels nationally facilitating leadership development experiences.
Christian Wiggins started his career with Harrah’s Entertainment where he built data driven customer experiences through human capital alignment and training. Following this role, he worked for Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity as Director of Alumni Engagement and later as the Chief Operating Officer. In his nine years as COO, he managed operations, expansion and growth, training and education, communications, technology, and lifelong member engagement.
Most recently Christian was the Chief Executive Officer of FarmHouse Fraternity where he provided strategic leadership and course-altering direction for a centennial organization of more than 30,000 members through a period of financial recovery, a global epidemic and damaging brand and legal issues for the association and industry. He facilitated a redesign of human capital, which better reflected environmental trends, the organization’s strategic needs and the evolving market for membership and higher education associations.
Christian is the Principal at Lumen Leadership Strategies, LLC, a firm primarily focused on the fraternal market, higher education and membership based organizations. Their services are focused in four core areas: executive coaching; review and foresight; speaking; and, customized leadership strategies.
Questions?
Contact Dan Wrona for more details about the event.