Agile Business Processes and Data Warehouse Infrastructure with Kevin Warenda
Presented by:
Kevin Warenda, Director of IT Services at The Hotchkiss School, joins the pod to discuss the intersection of business acumen and technical leadership. Learn how Kevin utilizes Agile methodology to manage complex financial system migrations and the construction of a data warehouse for institutional research while maintaining organizational continuity amidst senior leadership churn.
- The Hotchkiss School
- Center for Institutional Research in Independent Schools (CIRIS)
- Veracross, school information systems
- National Business Officers Association (NBOA)
- The Oregon Trail
- Asana, project management tool)
- The Tech Whisperers Podcast
Transcript
Peter Frank:
Dan, welcome to Talking technology with ATLIS,
Peter Frank:
the show that plugs you into the important topics and trends for
Peter Frank:
technology leaders all through a unique Independent School lens.
Peter Frank:
We'll hear stories from technology directors and other
Peter Frank:
special guests from the Independent School community,
Peter Frank:
and provide you with focused learning and deep dive topics.
Peter Frank:
And now please welcome your host. Christina Lewellen,
Christina Lewellen:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to
Christina Lewellen:
talking technology with ATLIS. I'm Christina Lewellen, the
Christina Lewellen:
President and CEO of the Association of technology
Christina Lewellen:
leaders in independent schools.
Bill Stites:
And I am Bill Stites, the Director of
Bill Stites:
Technology at Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New
Bill Stites:
Jersey.
Hiram Cuevas:
And I'm Hiram Cuevas, the Director of
Hiram Cuevas:
Information Systems and Academic Technology at St Christopher
Hiram Cuevas:
school in Richmond, Virginia.
Christina Lewellen:
Hello, gentlemen. How's everybody
Bill Stites:
today doing? Well, yeah, I'm a little
Hiram Cuevas:
tired of winter. Yeah. I think I'm over it. You
Hiram Cuevas:
know that when you sign up for a subscription and you're just
Hiram Cuevas:
like, yeah, I want to unsubscribe and you can't, I
Hiram Cuevas:
just can't seem to unsubscribe till winter.
Christina Lewellen:
Yeah, yeah, that's what's going on. For
Christina Lewellen:
sure. In Virginia, we are still surrounded by snow. Crete, is
Christina Lewellen:
what they say. Oh, 100% in Jersey, it's crazy. Well, this
Christina Lewellen:
is a time of year where I am starting to get on the road
Christina Lewellen:
quite a bit with different industry events, and so earlier
Christina Lewellen:
this week, I was in Houston, Texas, with Prisma, which is
Christina Lewellen:
heads of Jewish schools. And at the end of this week, I'm with
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the international coalition of girls schools in Maryland, and
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then heading into all sorts of state and regional groups, NAIS,
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NBOA, it is spring conference season for independent schools.
Christina Lewellen:
And I've been out and about talking about AI. I think a lot
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of schools are still all over the map in terms of where their
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progress is, and it's surprising to me, because the room is
Christina Lewellen:
getting more and more split. I always start by saying, you
Christina Lewellen:
know, point to one side of the room if you're all in on AI,
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point to the other side of the room if you want nothing to do
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with it, and there is still big gaps. You know, people are all
Christina Lewellen:
over the spectrum and just not quite sure where to land on all
Christina Lewellen:
this stuff. So I've been living with it and spending a lot of
Christina Lewellen:
time with school leaders on the road.
Bill Stites:
I just spoke with our NJ AIS trustee enrichment
Bill Stites:
day, and the topic was AI, and it was just very interesting
Bill Stites:
when you gage the room and you see where people are with it at
Bill Stites:
this point, a lot of focus that people have had in schools has
Bill Stites:
been on what's happening in the classroom. Yeah. And one of the
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things that we kind of spent some time talking with that
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group, and I'm continually banging that drum here, is, how
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are we talking about it? How we doing? PD, around it, around the
Bill Stites:
operational aspects of school, because I think so many people
Bill Stites:
are focused on it from that cheating standpoint, which is
Bill Stites:
100% should be in focus. But there are other pieces of it as
Bill Stites:
well that I think are equally as concerning, and people need to
Bill Stites:
be whether they believe in it or not. They need to be bought in
Bill Stites:
because it's real and it's not going anywhere.
Hiram Cuevas:
And we recently did a faculty and staff PD on
Hiram Cuevas:
AI, and we highlighted our exemplar teachers. But what
Hiram Cuevas:
really caught the attention of the group was I asked one of my
Hiram Cuevas:
students who's doing a capstone project on AI in education, and
Hiram Cuevas:
he gave a presentation on how students are using AI, and that
Hiram Cuevas:
just captivated the audience, I bet, and they were just like,
Hiram Cuevas:
wow. A, this is really, really impressive. And B, he was able
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to articulate not only why he was using it and what the future
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looks like, but how he's hoping the school will recognize the
Hiram Cuevas:
need for us to continue to go down this path. He did a
Hiram Cuevas:
marvelous job.
Christina Lewellen:
Awesome. I love seeing the kids get
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involved in that. Well, let's bring in our guests to chat with
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us, because I'm sure that there is a lot of ground for us to
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cover, both on AI and tons of other topics. Today, we're super
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excited to have ATLIS member extraordinaire, just a smiley,
Christina Lewellen:
happy person that I always love engaging with, and also has a
Christina Lewellen:
competitive streak, I think too. Kevin warenda from the hotchka
Christina Lewellen:
school, you are the director of IT services at your school. You
Christina Lewellen:
are also very quick to point out that you were the second human
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ever to register for the T list I was so that's where I'm
Christina Lewellen:
saying. You're a smiley guy, and there's a little competitive
Christina Lewellen:
streak going on. Kevin, thanks for joining us. Appreciate you
Christina Lewellen:
being here.
Kevin Warenda:
Yeah, it's an honor and pleasure to be
Kevin Warenda:
invited. So thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Christina Lewellen:
You are number two to sign up for the T
Christina Lewellen:
list. You jumped in nice and early.
Kevin Warenda:
Yes, and as Peter will confirm, I was actually the
Kevin Warenda:
first to sit for the exam, but at the time, he numbered the
Kevin Warenda:
certifications based on when you applied. So Ellie Wenzel beat me
Kevin Warenda:
out, but that's fine ally, and I have a good history. She
Kevin Warenda:
actually welcomed me to ATLIS back in 2015 when I first
Kevin Warenda:
joined. My outgoing head of school actually left to become
Kevin Warenda:
the head of school, the school she was at, so we had a little
Kevin Warenda:
bit of a connection there. So happy to follow in ATLIS
Kevin Warenda:
footsteps anytime.
Christina Lewellen:
But you did beat her to the punch on sitting
Christina Lewellen:
for the exam based on when you guys scheduled it right?
Kevin Warenda:
Yes, I did. Peter says, technically I'm 001, you
Kevin Warenda:
guys did announce, I think, at one of the conferences, that
Kevin Warenda:
double oh one was here. But as it turned out, double of two was
Kevin Warenda:
there.
Christina Lewellen:
I love it. So Kevin, let's start with this.
Christina Lewellen:
I have to admit, I always say, you call me out. I admit this
Christina Lewellen:
freely. I always say, nobody went to school to work it at an
Christina Lewellen:
independent school like nobody dreamed of being IT director at
Christina Lewellen:
an independent school when they were a kid, and yet you did. So
Christina Lewellen:
let's start there. Tell us about your journey.
Kevin Warenda:
I'll give you credit. It's probably not
Kevin Warenda:
exactly that accurate. I wouldn't say I dreamed to be an
Kevin Warenda:
independent school technology director, so you're still
Kevin Warenda:
correct there, but I think to understand my story, you really
Kevin Warenda:
go back to my kindergarten classroom. You know, in 1986 we
Kevin Warenda:
actually had an apple two computer in the classroom. Was
Kevin Warenda:
probably rare at the time for a public school. I was a curious
Kevin Warenda:
kid. I wanted to figure out how to turn it on. I was probably
Kevin Warenda:
the only kid in the class that knew to get to reach around
Kevin Warenda:
back. There was a switch there, right? Still love playing Oregon
Kevin Warenda:
Trail, which had been released in 1985
Christina Lewellen:
still the best game of all time, yeah,
Christina Lewellen:
still the best
Kevin Warenda:
game of all time. I'd also say, for anyone
Kevin Warenda:
questioning whether playing video games is valuable, I think
Kevin Warenda:
that having my entire family die of starvation or dysentery over
Kevin Warenda:
and over again, it's probably a formidable lesson in failure,
Kevin Warenda:
problem solving and determination.
Christina Lewellen:
Gen X, we have been shaped by that trauma
Christina Lewellen:
of letting Ma and Pa drown in the river. I'm just saying
Kevin Warenda:
I went to public school for kindergarten, but
Kevin Warenda:
then went to Catholic school the remainder of my elementary
Kevin Warenda:
career, so I didn't see another computer in a classroom until
Kevin Warenda:
high school. I was lucky enough to have a family who could
Kevin Warenda:
afford a computer at home, so when I was seven or eight, we
Kevin Warenda:
had one at home, and I spent all my time playing with that,
Kevin Warenda:
figuring out how it worked. I grew up taking things apart. If
Kevin Warenda:
something was broken in the house, my parents would let me
Kevin Warenda:
have it because they knew I couldn't put it back together.
Kevin Warenda:
But I wanted to see how it worked, so I took everything
Kevin Warenda:
apart. You know, fast forward to high school. I actually took a
Kevin Warenda:
computer programming class, and I think that's really the seed
Kevin Warenda:
to your point about wanting to be a technology director or
Kevin Warenda:
serve some role in education. I really got energized with that
Kevin Warenda:
class. It was Visual Basic, which to think back was
Kevin Warenda:
absolutely awful, but it was the experience of like learning that
Kevin Warenda:
I could make something happen on the screen. I actually thought,
Kevin Warenda:
I want to get into that. You know, that teacher I had at the
Kevin Warenda:
time was just a great cheerleader for the excitement I
Kevin Warenda:
had in that class to see how my computer program ran. So I
Kevin Warenda:
thought, you know, maybe I could do that. There weren't
Kevin Warenda:
technology directors in schools at the time, right? It was
Kevin Warenda:
mostly computer science teachers and such. So I would say that
Kevin Warenda:
that's probably the seed that I thought, maybe this something I
Kevin Warenda:
might want to do. So to that point, I don't have the journey
Kevin Warenda:
that some of your other guests have, where they've kind of gone
Kevin Warenda:
to industry or gone somewhere else, or even started in the
Kevin Warenda:
classroom. It was a little bit of a straight line to being a
Kevin Warenda:
technology director.
Christina Lewellen:
That's really awesome, and it's
Christina Lewellen:
interesting because your journey being a little different. You
Christina Lewellen:
know, one of the things that we want to talk to you about, and
Christina Lewellen:
part of why we invited you on to the program, is that you are
Christina Lewellen:
kind of a project manager extraordinaire. And I do think
Christina Lewellen:
that all tech directors, to some extent, must have that puzzle
Christina Lewellen:
building skill, because there's always a big project. But it
Christina Lewellen:
feels to me like you have gone through just about a million
Christina Lewellen:
information system implementations, a bunch of
Christina Lewellen:
building projects. Is that kind of the key to your interest and
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or success. Do you just like a good project? Like, do you like
Christina Lewellen:
ripping things out at your house and building LEGO sets? Like,
Christina Lewellen:
are you a project person?
Kevin Warenda:
Well, I'm definitely Lego guy. You can
Kevin Warenda:
actually probably see the top of my Lego tree right there behind
Kevin Warenda:
me, between my wife and I, we have more Legos than I care to
Kevin Warenda:
admit. So definitely a bill in that respect. I'd say that my
Kevin Warenda:
experience with projects is really the result of my need to
Kevin Warenda:
want to see how everything fits together. I think my desire to
Kevin Warenda:
be a technology director is because it's one role in the
Kevin Warenda:
school that really touches everything. Right? I can be
Kevin Warenda:
involved in so many different things from day to day, and
Kevin Warenda:
that's what kind of keeps the interest in the excitement over
Kevin Warenda:
25 years or so in this industry, I've been in colleges. I've been
Kevin Warenda:
in K 12, municipal and now independent schools. I've seen
Kevin Warenda:
the gamut of use that every single different possible
Kevin Warenda:
information system I've helped to implement or manage. We're in
Kevin Warenda:
the middle of a major one right now for our finance group. I've
Kevin Warenda:
seen every different size building project. We just opened
Kevin Warenda:
a brand new 50 plus million dollar dining hall of Hotchkiss
Kevin Warenda:
in December. We're still, I mean, punch list is still very
Kevin Warenda:
active, and we'll be doing that for a while, but at least we are
Kevin Warenda:
serving meals there and joining us community. So I approach
Kevin Warenda:
everything as a project. I've studied Advil methodology. I
Kevin Warenda:
really run even my own operations. An agile way. I'm I
Kevin Warenda:
have plans on the shelf for kind of long term planning, but I do
Kevin Warenda:
everything operationally in kind of short monthly sprints, and I
Kevin Warenda:
try to direct my team in that way too. I kind of look ahead
Kevin Warenda:
what's coming up, but the projects are just goal posts
Kevin Warenda:
along that path, right? You know, trying to help people
Kevin Warenda:
solve problems. I gravitated towards mission based
Kevin Warenda:
organizations and nonprofit my entire career, because I'm
Kevin Warenda:
interested in the impact that technology in particular has on
Kevin Warenda:
things right? We're not counting widgets. We're not tracking
Kevin Warenda:
profits. We're thinking about how each of these things comes
Kevin Warenda:
as a part of the larger picture to actually create some kind of
Kevin Warenda:
impact in the lives of others, in particular, for our current
Kevin Warenda:
industry, students in classrooms or residential settings in my
Kevin Warenda:
case, as well.
Bill Stites:
So I have a question for you. You mentioned
Bill Stites:
agile. You know Christina will swear by Asana. It makes me
Bill Stites:
think about the process and the tools. Again, agile is
Bill Stites:
definitely a process, but like, can you describe the process
Bill Stites:
that you do go through, how you involve other people. And then
Bill Stites:
what are the tools of the trade that you employ to make sure
Bill Stites:
that these things have their start, their middle and their
Bill Stites:
end?
Kevin Warenda:
I ask folks when either faculty or staff or even
Kevin Warenda:
students come to me with something, I always start with
Kevin Warenda:
the question of, what is it you're trying to accomplish? You
Kevin Warenda:
know, sometimes people kind of come in with they're like,
Kevin Warenda:
already halfway down the thought stream, and I want to make sure
Kevin Warenda:
I understand what is the outcome you're looking for. What is the
Kevin Warenda:
current state? What does the future state look like? And then
Kevin Warenda:
explore together collaboratively, what possible
Kevin Warenda:
solutions exist. Can we buy something? Do we have to make
Kevin Warenda:
something? I'll employ tools based on the need. Sometimes you
Kevin Warenda:
need a tool. Sometimes you don't. I'm probably perhaps one
Kevin Warenda:
of few tech directors who often says when it's not a good time
Kevin Warenda:
to use technology to solve a particular problem. And I think
Kevin Warenda:
some of that comes from my business training, my MBA, I do
Kevin Warenda:
a little bit of business process analysis. I do look at the
Kevin Warenda:
process of things and to say, well, maybe technology can help
Kevin Warenda:
here, but sometimes it's people, it's relationships, it's
Kevin Warenda:
behavior, it's whatever that process is. So I'll look to pick
Kevin Warenda:
that apart document again. As I said earlier, I'm interested in
Kevin Warenda:
how things work, so I want to take that process apart. I want
Kevin Warenda:
to take that need apart into its individual components and really
Kevin Warenda:
understand how each piece fits together. And then, you know, I
Kevin Warenda:
really take a systems thinking approach to just about
Kevin Warenda:
everything. And I'm very visual too. So sometimes I'll just map
Kevin Warenda:
it out pen and paper. Sometimes I'll use a diagramming tool, but
Kevin Warenda:
I want to see those relationships between people,
Kevin Warenda:
process and technology, and how that all can flow to what is the
Kevin Warenda:
outcome that's desired. So from a project management
Kevin Warenda:
perspective, that can be very compartmentalized, you know,
Kevin Warenda:
what is the scope of work? What is the timeline we have, what is
Kevin Warenda:
the budget we have? And we can kind of work towards that from
Kevin Warenda:
an everyday operational perspective, again, taking that
Kevin Warenda:
agile approach. It's what's coming up, what do we have to
Kevin Warenda:
produce in? What timeline we're kind of working backwards,
Kevin Warenda:
letting folks kind of lead in different areas to produce those
Kevin Warenda:
things. And you want to fail quickly, you know, try
Kevin Warenda:
something. If that doesn't work, you go back to the drawing
Kevin Warenda:
board. So a little bit of design thinking in there as well. But I
Kevin Warenda:
think that's the benefit of the sprint. Is especially in today's
Kevin Warenda:
complex, uncertain environment, we don't always know the
Kevin Warenda:
solution, or we think we might, and we want to try that. But
Kevin Warenda:
it's not like it used to be, you know, where there was kind of
Kevin Warenda:
few things to choose from, few tools to choose from few
Kevin Warenda:
solutions to problems. You'd kind of pick one and you'd have
Kevin Warenda:
this monolithic project to get to the end of it. It's not
Kevin Warenda:
really the case anymore. There's just so many different
Kevin Warenda:
components and pieces and things can kind of change along the
Kevin Warenda:
way. So it's really about building a relationship where
Kevin Warenda:
people are willing to kind of work with you in an iterative
Kevin Warenda:
process, whether it's on the operational support side, okay,
Kevin Warenda:
you know, we've got trustees coming in two weeks. Okay? What
Kevin Warenda:
meetings are happening? When do they need them? Hybrid? Do they
Kevin Warenda:
need them in person? Work that out for that individual case,
Kevin Warenda:
it's almost never a cookie cutter. It's never a template,
Kevin Warenda:
frankly. So approaching it from that perspective kind of puts
Kevin Warenda:
you behind
Hiram Cuevas:
the curve on that. So Kevin, one of the reasons I
Hiram Cuevas:
wanted to have you on as a guest is because of your business
Hiram Cuevas:
acumen, the fact that you actually have an MBA, and we
Hiram Cuevas:
just dropped the pod with James pal Mary from NBOA, and we were
Hiram Cuevas:
discussing, what does the tech director need to know? And
Hiram Cuevas:
you're kind of like that double unicorn in which you have both
Hiram Cuevas:
the Tech experience and the business chops in order to
Hiram Cuevas:
really have a great conversation with school leadership talk
Hiram Cuevas:
about this new project that you're working on with the
Hiram Cuevas:
developing the new chart of accounts and whatnot, and how
Hiram Cuevas:
your experience with also having that MBA assisted in the
Hiram Cuevas:
facilitation of this project.
Kevin Warenda:
Yeah, I originally had applied to
Kevin Warenda:
college as a dual major computer science, computer engineering.
Kevin Warenda:
It was quick that I learned I wasn't interested in kind of
Kevin Warenda:
building and understanding, like the hardware piece. I was more
Kevin Warenda:
interested, again, in that impact of how technology can
Kevin Warenda:
serve things and business. You know, Management Information
Kevin Warenda:
Systems was kind of the place I moved to, because that kind of
Kevin Warenda:
afforded me that ability to really say, you know, in a
Kevin Warenda:
business setting, in particular, in any order. Organization. How
Kevin Warenda:
is technology helping drive impact? So two years ago, we
Kevin Warenda:
realized we have quite a bit of legacy software and process in
Kevin Warenda:
place for our financial system, very complex error for all lots
Kevin Warenda:
of manual effort, right? It's time to modernize that system,
Kevin Warenda:
and the CFO and I at the time, kind of talked part of the
Kevin Warenda:
challenge wasn't just the technology stack. It was
Kevin Warenda:
actually the Chart of Accounts, the number of accounts that are
Kevin Warenda:
used to support the school and how that all flows to financial
Kevin Warenda:
statements. So certainly, having a business degree, having
Kevin Warenda:
understanding of what financial statements are and a chart of
Kevin Warenda:
accounts and how all that functions certainly gives me a
Kevin Warenda:
leg up, especially when trying to support a business office
Kevin Warenda:
transition like that. Because it's not just, I'm not just
Kevin Warenda:
bringing the technology leadership to that table. I'm
Kevin Warenda:
actually bringing an understanding of the content
Kevin Warenda:
area. I guess we've been lucky in some respect, because I'm the
Kevin Warenda:
only one that's been continuous through that project. We've had
Kevin Warenda:
some turnover in our finance department, so CFOs left. We got
Kevin Warenda:
a new controller, new senior financial analyst. So actually,
Kevin Warenda:
all the key players from the Business Office side have turned
Kevin Warenda:
over during the course of this project, so it's been helpful.
Kevin Warenda:
My business office colleagues shout out to honey and Josh in
Kevin Warenda:
particular, who are part of the core team. Often say, I'm
Kevin Warenda:
helping to serve almost as an additional business officer for
Kevin Warenda:
them, because I have the continuity of this project. I
Kevin Warenda:
was part of the design and implementation of the actual
Kevin Warenda:
chart of accounts itself. I understand how the school works,
Kevin Warenda:
and again, that comes from being involved with every department
Kevin Warenda:
in the school. From a technology support perspective, I actually
Kevin Warenda:
do have an insight and understanding into what their
Kevin Warenda:
needs may be from a budget perspective, or, you know, a
Kevin Warenda:
tracking perspective, what kind of data they might need to make
Kevin Warenda:
decisions. And so I was at part of the process of kind of
Kevin Warenda:
discussing what that looks like. Now we also engaged an outside
Kevin Warenda:
consultant to help with that process, especially because of
Kevin Warenda:
the transition. So we did have some kind of expert outside
Kevin Warenda:
resources too to build off of, but we did that collaboratively,
Kevin Warenda:
and so I was able to speak intelligently and be a valuable
Kevin Warenda:
member of the team at the chart of accounts because of that
Kevin Warenda:
business experience. Now we're in the phase of implementing
Kevin Warenda:
that in a brand new tech stack as well. So we will go live in
Kevin Warenda:
July with a new central ERP system, financial accounting
Kevin Warenda:
system. We're pretty mature in a lot of our processes, though,
Kevin Warenda:
even especially purchasing, we have kind of a large, complex,
Kevin Warenda:
distributed setup. We make use of a bunch of different
Kevin Warenda:
interesting technologies with that respect, and that's been
Kevin Warenda:
part of the challenge, is finding solutions that actually
Kevin Warenda:
meet that. So we're not going backwards, right? We don't want
Kevin Warenda:
to influence a new system and have people have less capability
Kevin Warenda:
than had before. But a lot of that's being driven by, you
Kevin Warenda:
know, what? We need for budget reporting to areas of the
Kevin Warenda:
schools so they can understand how the resources are being
Kevin Warenda:
allocated and used, and also being able to interface with all
Kevin Warenda:
these other partners. Again, the financial technologies. Tech has
Kevin Warenda:
become very, very complicated, but it's also a key area where
Kevin Warenda:
you can get efficiency. You don't need as many people
Kevin Warenda:
necessarily anymore by leveraging technology in the
Kevin Warenda:
right way. Or you can make those people's jobs a lot easier so
Kevin Warenda:
they can focus on the human relationships they need with the
Kevin Warenda:
various faculty departments.
Christina Lewellen:
It's really interesting. And Kevin, I want
Christina Lewellen:
to pause there for a second, because you've experienced a lot
Christina Lewellen:
of turnover. You've been at Hotchkiss
Kevin Warenda:
for about a decade, right? 11 years coming
Kevin Warenda:
up soon, yeah, okay,
Christina Lewellen:
so almost 11 years, and in that time, you've
Christina Lewellen:
experienced a ton of senior leadership churn that obviously
Christina Lewellen:
introduces a lot of organizational chaos, not only
Christina Lewellen:
for the tech team and the tech leader, but for the entire
Christina Lewellen:
school. Tell us a little bit about that. Tell everybody just
Christina Lewellen:
a bit about some of that churn and kind of how you've been able
Christina Lewellen:
to be that consistent thread as things have changed.
Kevin Warenda:
I do often find myself in rooms of people where
Kevin Warenda:
I'm the longest tenure. There are certainly some other key
Kevin Warenda:
partners that have been at the school longer than I, so I
Kevin Warenda:
welcome their partnership as well to help with that. I don't
Kevin Warenda:
always like to look back either. It's nice to be the kind of the
Kevin Warenda:
historian to say, like, oh, we tried that before and didn't
Kevin Warenda:
work, and here's why. So let's learn team mistakes kind of
Kevin Warenda:
situation. But as I came in the head of school, was actually
Kevin Warenda:
transitioning, so I had an intern the first year, and then
Kevin Warenda:
the last 10 years have been the same head of school, although he
Kevin Warenda:
just announced his retirement. We have a new one coming in
Kevin Warenda:
July, so I'll be on my third head at Hotchkiss come next
Kevin Warenda:
year. I'm on my third CFO, and she's currently an interim as we
Kevin Warenda:
select a permanent one, and in every other position,
Kevin Warenda:
advancement, admission, academic life, dean of faculty, Associate
Kevin Warenda:
Head, Dean of Students. Every single administrative position
Kevin Warenda:
in the school, senior administrative position in the
Kevin Warenda:
school has turned over at least once, if not twice. And then
Kevin Warenda:
many of my operational period as well, facilities has turned
Kevin Warenda:
over. Security is turned over. So yes, it is a lot of churn.
Kevin Warenda:
Now I will say the folks that are in some of those positions
Kevin Warenda:
now are great, great partners, whether I've been with them for
Kevin Warenda:
a year or two or three or four, those relationships are the way
Kevin Warenda:
in which we get work done. I think the challenge for me has
Kevin Warenda:
been every time that position turns over, I have to kind of
Kevin Warenda:
start over, build a new relationship, build trust to
Kevin Warenda:
work with that person. Person. Modern organizations, especially
Kevin Warenda:
independent schools, are very matrix oriented, like there is a
Kevin Warenda:
hierarchy, there's a organizational chart, per se,
Kevin Warenda:
but then many people hold different roles in different
Kevin Warenda:
departments, right? Same person can have three different jobs.
Kevin Warenda:
The dean of faculty is the head of the faculty, but also as the
Kevin Warenda:
teacher and so has to report to an academic department head.
Kevin Warenda:
It's a dynamic and interesting environment where we really have
Kevin Warenda:
to co Elevate, you know, work together with leadership or the
Kevin Warenda:
authority in any given situation could be fluid. So building
Kevin Warenda:
relationships, building trust with people, understanding what
Kevin Warenda:
their needs, their goals are, especially senior leaders, to be
Kevin Warenda:
able to be in a position to support them and what the impact
Kevin Warenda:
and the outcome they're looking for. It takes time. So the more
Kevin Warenda:
churn there is, it's just that much more time. And I don't
Kevin Warenda:
serve on the senior leadership committee at our school. It's
Kevin Warenda:
just not the way we're structured. The IT director
Kevin Warenda:
isn't there, so I'm not in a room. I'm not at the table with
Kevin Warenda:
all of them. So I have to make my own table. I have to reach
Kevin Warenda:
out and set up standing meetings with these folks, and it's kind
Kevin Warenda:
of one on one, although there's a benefit to that right? Like
Kevin Warenda:
not being just part of a large group, I can actually build a
Kevin Warenda:
strong personal relationship with each person, understand
Kevin Warenda:
their areas, and then being a systems thinker that I am, I put
Kevin Warenda:
all that together in my head, I can kind of draw the map of the
Kevin Warenda:
whole organization. I think that's what makes me a key
Kevin Warenda:
partner to folks, is because they can be talking about their
Kevin Warenda:
needs, their wants, what they're working on, and I can help
Kevin Warenda:
connect that to other dots that I'm seeing somewhere else, that
Kevin Warenda:
maybe they're not going to work. I can help put them in touch
Kevin Warenda:
with another contact or a colleague somewhere that's
Kevin Warenda:
working on either something similar, so we don't duplicate
Kevin Warenda:
effort and resources, or if there's things that are very
Kevin Warenda:
complementary to each other in terms of initiatives, and then I
Kevin Warenda:
understand how the technology, in many cases, or the business
Kevin Warenda:
aspect of things, can support
Bill Stites:
those needs. It sounds like you're very much the
Bill Stites:
glue that keeps all those pieces connected. For you to do that, I
Bill Stites:
want you to describe your team. Who do you have there with you?
Bill Stites:
Because in order to do all the things that you're doing, I
Bill Stites:
would assume, and you know what they say about that, but I would
Bill Stites:
assume that you've got a pretty deep bench and people that you
Bill Stites:
can really count on. So can you give our audience an idea of
Bill Stites:
what it looks like there?
Kevin Warenda:
I do have an amazing team, and they've been
Kevin Warenda:
turned there too. That's not the same team I started with. So
Kevin Warenda:
there are six of us total. Now. We've had more than that. We've
Kevin Warenda:
contracted. Sometimes less is more. So I think actually six is
Kevin Warenda:
the right number for what we're trying to accomplish right now.
Kevin Warenda:
Within the resources we have, I have folks that handle kind of
Kevin Warenda:
IT support, three of those folks who are really frontline meeting
Kevin Warenda:
with people doing all the help desk and classroom support and
Kevin Warenda:
all that kind of stuff. And I have two folks who actually have
Kevin Warenda:
been there longer than I have that kind of head up our
Kevin Warenda:
infrastructure, you know, servers, network security and
Kevin Warenda:
that kind of stuff. But it's a great team of self starters.
Kevin Warenda:
They take initiative, they're smart, they know what they're
Kevin Warenda:
doing. It's taken the 10 years to assemble that team, and it
Kevin Warenda:
really is the dream team right now. We've got people from
Kevin Warenda:
different experiences, you know, different industries, but
Kevin Warenda:
everyone's focused on serving our customers, our faculty,
Kevin Warenda:
staff and students. I don't have to micromanage that team from
Kevin Warenda:
the agile methodology. You know, we run huddles regularly,
Kevin Warenda:
usually through a week or so. We don't stand up for those.
Kevin Warenda:
Sometimes they're called Stand up, meaning, if we don't stand
Kevin Warenda:
up, we sit down. But they only last 30 minutes at most, usually
Kevin Warenda:
to try to make sure folks know what's going on, know their
Kevin Warenda:
piece, know what they're need to be working on and bring back.
Kevin Warenda:
And it's really more meant to be a time to discuss what
Kevin Warenda:
challenges or blockers are in the way, and can anyone else
Kevin Warenda:
help push through those things and then get a sense of what's
Kevin Warenda:
coming next. What do we need to prepare for next? So we're
Kevin Warenda:
probably the smallest of what we consider to be our peer schools
Kevin Warenda:
in terms of the size of our IT department, but then we're
Kevin Warenda:
independent schools. I like to say that a lot like everyone's
Kevin Warenda:
different. They're organized differently. We have some
Kevin Warenda:
talented folks in the faculty side who run the theater and
Kevin Warenda:
that kind of technical stuff and music, so we don't have to
Kevin Warenda:
handle that piece of it. We don't have an ed tech person or
Kevin Warenda:
role in the school. I haven't had one for quite some time, so
Kevin Warenda:
we do our best to support that, but it's not a position we have
Kevin Warenda:
to officially serve. We collaborate a lot with the
Kevin Warenda:
library folks. There's a lot of talented faculty and in
Kevin Warenda:
departments that can actually kind of bring subject matter
Kevin Warenda:
competency and a comfort with technology. You know, we have a
Kevin Warenda:
STEM lab and things, robotics program, all that kind of stuff.
Kevin Warenda:
Photography has a ton of technology, but those faculty
Kevin Warenda:
are actually very comfortable with that and know what they're
Kevin Warenda:
doing, so we don't have to provide a ton of support there.
Kevin Warenda:
So our team is right sized in that respect, and then I take on
Kevin Warenda:
way more than I probably should. I help our academic office.
Kevin Warenda:
Veracross is those of you who have it know that can be a
Kevin Warenda:
barrier to manage. You know, I don't want that all to fall to
Kevin Warenda:
our registrar. It's not all academics, right? We use it for
Kevin Warenda:
all kinds of things, athletics and other things. Athletics and
Kevin Warenda:
other things. So I help with the annual cycle of that, in terms
Kevin Warenda:
of loading Residential Life information and athletic
Kevin Warenda:
information, and try to reduce the load on our academic
Kevin Warenda:
department. And I'm also working with our dean of academic life
Kevin Warenda:
and our associate head on a lot of institutional research type
Kevin Warenda:
projects as well. Have a passion for that. We're building a data
Kevin Warenda:
warehouse. I work very closely with CIRIS. We're a CIRIS member
Kevin Warenda:
now. I think the partnership that they have with ATLIS and
Kevin Warenda:
the fact that the conference comes together has been huge for
Kevin Warenda:
folks like me who aren't institutional researchers and
Kevin Warenda:
don't have an institutional research office, but we're
Kevin Warenda:
trying to do some of that. It's just a perfect collaboration
Kevin Warenda:
between two organizations that are kind of serving a lot of the
Kevin Warenda:
same folks. So it's a right size team for what we need to
Kevin Warenda:
accomplish and what resources we have. But you're right, Bill,
Kevin Warenda:
like, if it wasn't for the depth of bench I have, I would not be
Kevin Warenda:
as successful as I am. For sure,
Christina Lewellen:
you have a lot going on, and I'm curious,
Christina Lewellen:
like, what some of the big projects are in your world right
Christina Lewellen:
now. You mentioned that you just opened a new dining hall, and I
Christina Lewellen:
guess we didn't really stop down on your school. Your school has
Christina Lewellen:
a residential program. So I guess maybe two part question,
Christina Lewellen:
can you just tell us a little bit about the school, also just
Christina Lewellen:
what's in your universe right now? What are you and your team
Christina Lewellen:
tackling in this second part of
Kevin Warenda:
the school year. So the hatchka School is grades
Kevin Warenda:
nine through 12, with some contingent post grads as well,
Kevin Warenda:
almost all boarding. But we do have sizable day population.
Kevin Warenda:
Many of those are faculty students. So they are
Kevin Warenda:
technically day because they get to live in the faculty
Kevin Warenda:
apartment, but they're on campus. So when you consider
Kevin Warenda:
that the number of actual students that are commuting from
Kevin Warenda:
within a 30 mile radius is very small, so for all intents and
Kevin Warenda:
purposes, we are a boarding school, you know, full
Kevin Warenda:
residential program, 600 and some odd students. 615 20,
Kevin Warenda:
depending on the day, we have a beautiful campus, 500 and some
Kevin Warenda:
odd acres in the main campus on the deepest freshwater lake in
Kevin Warenda:
Connecticut, and then we have a farm, 200 acre farm, down the
Kevin Warenda:
street, that actually helps produce a lot of the food in our
Kevin Warenda:
dining hall and serves a number of different academic purposes
Kevin Warenda:
as well. So it's a relatively small, or I guess, maybe perhaps
Kevin Warenda:
medium sized, rural boarding school, but we are considered
Kevin Warenda:
often one of the top boarding schools in the country. Have one
Kevin Warenda:
of the largest endowments, extremely large operating
Kevin Warenda:
budget. I came from K 12 public K 12, where we had 3600
Kevin Warenda:
students, pre K through 12, and the operating budgets
Kevin Warenda:
essentially the same for a 600 student campus. You know, we
Kevin Warenda:
have about 75 faculty who live on campus all year round of the
Kevin Warenda:
150 or so faculty members, so 625 ish students and about 350
Kevin Warenda:
faculty and staff is cool. We support with six people
Christina Lewellen:
that's keeping you busy. So what does
Christina Lewellen:
this part of your year look like?
Kevin Warenda:
For folks who aren't familiar with the
Kevin Warenda:
boarding school environment? I like to describe it as a roller
Kevin Warenda:
coaster that never stops. We are definitely on like the second
Kevin Warenda:
hill. We've come back from winter break, and we are now
Kevin Warenda:
accelerating down the hill towards what will then be the
Kevin Warenda:
uphill climb of summer programs and everything else. So the
Kevin Warenda:
second semester was in full swing. The trustees were just on
Kevin Warenda:
campus approving a budget for next year, which is going to set
Kevin Warenda:
all kinds of things in motion. We're going to start accepting,
Kevin Warenda:
you know, sending acceptances out for next year's class. We're
Kevin Warenda:
planning summer programs support. We have a pretty robust
Kevin Warenda:
summer programs that goes on, and there are all kinds of so
Kevin Warenda:
the dining hall was probably the biggest construction project
Kevin Warenda:
going on until December. And while we have some things to
Kevin Warenda:
button up there. We've now moved focus to a number of other
Kevin Warenda:
things that are going on, renovations, constant dorm
Kevin Warenda:
renovations in a continuous cycle. So we don't do full
Kevin Warenda:
dorms. We do like, a wing at a time or a floor at a time to
Kevin Warenda:
meet the programmatic needs. So that requires the movement. In
Kevin Warenda:
this case, this summer, there's going to be, like, our entire
Kevin Warenda:
business office, who is already planning to launch a brand new
Kevin Warenda:
financial system actually has to move all their offices
Kevin Warenda:
physically in a couple of months, and that's disrupting a
Kevin Warenda:
number of other things. And actually the completion of the
Kevin Warenda:
dining hall set in motion a series of administrative office
Kevin Warenda:
moves. So our communications folks are moving this week. Our
Kevin Warenda:
development folks are going to be moving a little bit to make
Kevin Warenda:
some additional room for the business folks who will move
Kevin Warenda:
another month, and then come summer, once all those moves are
Kevin Warenda:
done, then some additional renovation stuff can be done.
Kevin Warenda:
Our facilities team is amazing, and they've always got a ton of
Kevin Warenda:
stuff going on, and a lot of that does have kind of a
Kevin Warenda:
crossover with tech. So I partner very closely with Mike
Kevin Warenda:
verze, who's our current facilities director, and that's
Kevin Warenda:
a great partnership to have. We stay in constant contact about
Kevin Warenda:
what's going on and what's coming down the pike. So we're
Kevin Warenda:
often doing a lot of support to set the stage for those types of
Kevin Warenda:
projects going on, too. We are actively trying to build data
Kevin Warenda:
warehouse. I'm working with folks in that respect. We're
Kevin Warenda:
tackling the topic of AI, lots of discussion, not necessarily a
Kevin Warenda:
lot of action there, but trying to get our hand around what we
Kevin Warenda:
might do there. As we're waiting for a new head to start in July,
Kevin Warenda:
we're searching for a new CFO. So I'd say right now, I can't
Kevin Warenda:
really point to a number of different specific projects
Kevin Warenda:
beyond that financial system. That's kind of what's. Taking
Kevin Warenda:
most of the cognitive load right now, but there's all these other
Kevin Warenda:
enabling things that are kind of happening in the wake of the
Kevin Warenda:
major construction piece. We just also completed a capital
Kevin Warenda:
campaign, or kind of finishing phase of capital campaign in the
Kevin Warenda:
first one in 30 years for our school. So there's a number of
Kevin Warenda:
initiatives that will come out of that. We just completed the
Kevin Warenda:
Ask self study. There'll be a few pieces left to do that, but
Kevin Warenda:
the visiting team was here in October, that will probably
Kevin Warenda:
produce a bunch of ideas and things to work on. So, yeah,
Kevin Warenda:
it's a storm of things happening all at once, but that's what
Kevin Warenda:
makes it really exciting. Yeah.
Christina Lewellen:
I mean, it sounds beautifully chaotic,
Christina Lewellen:
which tends to be the case with boarding schools. Is my
Christina Lewellen:
experience is there's a lot of beautiful chaos. Bill and Hiram,
Christina Lewellen:
you guys are probably feeling tired just hearing about that,
Christina Lewellen:
but given the fact that you bring some pretty unique
Christina Lewellen:
perspectives, you know you've got this business background,
Christina Lewellen:
you have helped with a lot of change management and transition
Christina Lewellen:
at your school, can you speak to either what your goals are for
Christina Lewellen:
maybe the back part of your career, or specifically the
Christina Lewellen:
things that sort of capture your interest. In other words, I'm
Christina Lewellen:
sure that you're reading and listening to podcasts and
Christina Lewellen:
getting involved in things that maybe not all tech leaders do.
Christina Lewellen:
So what I'm trying to get to is this issue that we often wrestle
Christina Lewellen:
on this podcast is like about career mapping and if tech
Christina Lewellen:
directors want to step into broader leadership roles, even
Christina Lewellen:
if they're not defined, it sounds like you're a leader in
Christina Lewellen:
your school even if you don't necessarily have a chief
Christina Lewellen:
executive type title. So I'm just kind of curious, like, what
Christina Lewellen:
it is that interests you, where you think the back part of your
Christina Lewellen:
career will go, especially in terms of, like, how you think
Christina Lewellen:
about yourself as a player in the leadership team of your
Christina Lewellen:
school.
Kevin Warenda:
I'm open to a lot of different opportunities. I
Kevin Warenda:
think I'm privileged to be in position where I am, where I'm
Kevin Warenda:
comfortable. I've got a great team. I've got a decade here,
Kevin Warenda:
which is just slightly longer than any other professional
Kevin Warenda:
stint I've done. I did higher ed for seven or eight years, public
Kevin Warenda:
K 12 for nine, and then now I'm at 10. So it's kind of a
Kevin Warenda:
progression of how long I've stayed. I could actually see
Kevin Warenda:
myself staying at Hudson for quite a bit longer when I was
Kevin Warenda:
recruited to come here and I left the public K 12 space. I
Kevin Warenda:
had completed everything I had set out to do, and what I had
Kevin Warenda:
laid in front of the trustees at the time of the school board in
Kevin Warenda:
terms of, we had three, three year each operational cycles we
Kevin Warenda:
completed there. I was ready. I was like, it's either make a new
Kevin Warenda:
plan for the future or try something new. And so that was
Kevin Warenda:
the opportunity that presented itself at the time, and I was
Kevin Warenda:
prepared for that. So I made the decision to come to Hodgkins and
Kevin Warenda:
did something similar, you know, tried to map out what, what does
Kevin Warenda:
it look like? So we are kind of at the end of a, you know, end
Kevin Warenda:
of a decade is the end of a timeline, but the schools still
Kevin Warenda:
in transition, right? We have a new head coming in. There'll be
Kevin Warenda:
all kinds of new ideas and things coming in. We've got a
Kevin Warenda:
bunch of other great administrative faculty and folks
Kevin Warenda:
that have new ideas the school undoubtedly take up a strategic
Kevin Warenda:
planning process. We were completing the NE ask study
Kevin Warenda:
right when I arrived. So the 10 year cycle is completed. We've
Kevin Warenda:
got a new self study completed that's going to come up with a
Kevin Warenda:
bunch of ideas, I guess. Where I am right now is somewhat
Kevin Warenda:
patiently waiting to see how I can get involved in any of those
Kevin Warenda:
areas. And if that turns into something where perhaps, if the
Kevin Warenda:
new head, or the new CFO decide, you know, perhaps Kevin can have
Kevin Warenda:
a greater role at the senior admin team level, great. And if
Kevin Warenda:
not, I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing and make those
Kevin Warenda:
tables myself. I will say that the interim CFO, we have now
Kevin Warenda:
Maria Kimsey, who came from Mercers Berg before she retired,
Kevin Warenda:
and is now kind of doing these one year stints to help schools
Kevin Warenda:
get over the hump. She's been a tremendous advocate for me, and
Kevin Warenda:
actually got me invited to participate in our building
Kevin Warenda:
grounds and environment trustee committee now, so I've been
Kevin Warenda:
before the audit and risk committee as a guest a number of
Kevin Warenda:
times. But other than that, don't have any permanent
Kevin Warenda:
membership or participation in any other board committees. So
Kevin Warenda:
this is my first you know, they realized that when you're
Kevin Warenda:
talking about things like physical assets, the physical
Kevin Warenda:
plant, we have fiber running everywhere on this campus.
Kevin Warenda:
That's kind of part of that purview that that committee
Kevin Warenda:
probably should be thinking about in terms of long term
Kevin Warenda:
capital planning. So they're talking about adding technology
Kevin Warenda:
as a formal piece of that community as well. So I've
Kevin Warenda:
recently joined that. So that's a piece of growth of my own
Kevin Warenda:
career to be part of that board committee, and I've had that
Kevin Warenda:
again before, but not when it came to house slightly
Kevin Warenda:
different. I'm open to those opportunities where I can help
Kevin Warenda:
more with trustees. I also look externally, though, right? I'm
Kevin Warenda:
in a great place where I'm afforded the ability to kind of
Kevin Warenda:
work with organizations like Atlas. I put my hat in the ring
Kevin Warenda:
and told you Christina and others, if there's a board
Kevin Warenda:
position at Atlas open at some point in the future, I'd be
Kevin Warenda:
interested in serving in that way. I look for opportunities
Kevin Warenda:
where I can do a presentation at the Atlas conference, or
Kevin Warenda:
otherwise, the network is incredible, and so I want to
Kevin Warenda:
contribute to those. So I think. The second half of my career, or
Kevin Warenda:
the back half of my career, as you say, I was probably just
Kevin Warenda:
looking for more opportunities to serve other folks, right?
Kevin Warenda:
I've done a lot of management consulting that was part of my
Kevin Warenda:
formal training. I'm always happy to pick up the phone and
Kevin Warenda:
help other schools. I haven't created a business out of that,
Kevin Warenda:
and I don't intend to. I like to build that community, that
Kevin Warenda:
network of folks happy to take my experience and help other
Kevin Warenda:
schools who might need it, or other organizations, and so I'm
Kevin Warenda:
going to continue down that path. ATLIS has been a
Kevin Warenda:
tremendous part of my professional growth over the
Kevin Warenda:
last 10 years, because that network turned into the ALI
Kevin Warenda:
membership. Right? I got a cohort from that year joining
Kevin Warenda:
that or applying to be part of Ali was largely the result of me
Kevin Warenda:
thinking about the question you just asked, which is asked,
Kevin Warenda:
which is, what am I going to do next? And I said, Well, you
Kevin Warenda:
know, maybe I could participate and try to, like, teach or do
Kevin Warenda:
presentations. Like, well, if I'm going to do that, I should
Kevin Warenda:
go through the program myself first as a participant and
Kevin Warenda:
understand what that is. So that was kind of the impetus to do
Kevin Warenda:
that, but that was a great professional experience as part
Kevin Warenda:
of that cohort and working as a team. And then tlis was the next
Kevin Warenda:
piece of that right of very excited to get the
Kevin Warenda:
certification, if for no other reason than for its purpose, to
Kevin Warenda:
demonstrate that my experience over the last 20 some odd years
Kevin Warenda:
led to being able to say, Yes, I understand technology,
Kevin Warenda:
operations, pedagogy, supporting all aspects of independent
Kevin Warenda:
school life. So more of that, more of kind of help others. If
Kevin Warenda:
another opportunity came up, though, to move to attend
Kevin Warenda:
school, I might consider it. But again, I got a great team and a
Kevin Warenda:
lot of opportunities for change coming at hoshka, so I could see
Kevin Warenda:
myself staying here long term as well.
Bill Stites:
Christina, I want to push back on you talking
Bill Stites:
about the back half of his career. Because I'll be honest
Bill Stites:
with you, Hiram and I are here looking at one another, and I'm
Bill Stites:
like, back half. He hasn't even finished his front half Exactly.
Bill Stites:
He's got all of his hair. I don't see any gray there. I'm
Bill Stites:
looking at Hiram, and I am like, this is what the back half looks
Bill Stites:
like. He's the front half.
Hiram Cuevas:
He did say he was in kindergarten in 1986 I I was
Hiram Cuevas:
a sophomore in college.
Christina Lewellen:
This man played the Oregon Trail on an
Christina Lewellen:
Apple too. So I think that I am well within my right to ask him
Christina Lewellen:
about his back half of his career.
Bill Stites:
Yeah, in kindergarten. In kindergarten.
Christina Lewellen:
No, we got the boys all riled up. Sorry,
Christina Lewellen:
Kevin, they'd get a little testy. Sorry, dude, get off my
Christina Lewellen:
lawn.
Bill Stites:
Yeah, all right, but I do have a question in all
Bill Stites:
of my blustering here, as you're talking about things and as you
Bill Stites:
were describing like the work that you do and where your realm
Bill Stites:
is, and how you try to get out and work with the others, and
Bill Stites:
the fact that you mentioned that you don't really have, like, an
Bill Stites:
ed tech group, but you work with your librarians, which I think
Bill Stites:
is really one of those areas. But one of the things that I
Bill Stites:
think I know, I am, I know Hiram, is we've spent some time
Bill Stites:
talking about this is when we get around, like, how are we
Bill Stites:
picking the tools that we're using? How are we vetting
Bill Stites:
things. How do we make decisions on what we are and we aren't
Bill Stites:
going to use so what does that look like for you in that
Bill Stites:
process of risk mitigation? And that, you know, you mentioned
Bill Stites:
some stuff, I think, in the run of show notes that we had around
Bill Stites:
vetting certain tools. What does that relationship look like when
Bill Stites:
it really like there really isn't the Ed Tech everyone
Bill Stites:
focusing on what they're doing, what's that look like? How do
Bill Stites:
you navigate that?
Kevin Warenda:
I obviously take the business and the
Kevin Warenda:
cybersecurity piece of that to heart. That's primarily my focus
Kevin Warenda:
is making sure that the school's information is safe, and I try
Kevin Warenda:
to educate folks as to why that's important, right? Why
Kevin Warenda:
can't you just start using some new software if you're going to
Kevin Warenda:
put a bunch of our data into it, and so we have those open
Kevin Warenda:
conversations. You know, the school has policies I've been
Kevin Warenda:
supported in centralizing that, you know, all of our it is
Kevin Warenda:
supposed to be centralized in my department. I hold the budget
Kevin Warenda:
for all that. There is a process to register a request for
Kevin Warenda:
something new to vet that I do a lot of the vendor vetting,
Kevin Warenda:
contract management myself or in collaboration with school of
Kevin Warenda:
legal counsel whenever necessary, but we've built a lot
Kevin Warenda:
of reusable pieces of that. Now we have a DPA or data processing
Kevin Warenda:
agreement template that we can use. But again, I'm always
Kevin Warenda:
looking to understand, all right, what is it you're looking
Kevin Warenda:
to do? I always start with what is it you want to do? What
Kevin Warenda:
problem do you want to solve? And whether that's in an
Kevin Warenda:
administrative department or a classroom, it really does.
Kevin Warenda:
Classroom, it really doesn't matter. They have an outcome
Kevin Warenda:
they're looking for to support, and then we do have a group of
Kevin Warenda:
folks on campus who can make decisions about prioritizing
Kevin Warenda:
those things. I am afforded a lot of leeway in terms of making
Kevin Warenda:
decisions about what we will adopt and what we won't, and a
Kevin Warenda:
lot of that has to do with what is the actual risk there in a
Kevin Warenda:
classroom setting if they're looking to use something for
Kevin Warenda:
instructional purposes and it's all they're uploading is maybe a
Kevin Warenda:
roster of students that's gonna be a lot easier to approve than
Kevin Warenda:
something where we're relying on some unknown AI agent behind the
Kevin Warenda:
scene to churn and process our data for some decision making
Kevin Warenda:
thing. So the process is we take everything right? One by one.
Kevin Warenda:
Again, that Agile methodology of understand what the challenges
Kevin Warenda:
of the request, how does this thing stack up against our
Kevin Warenda:
values as a school, against our policies in terms of what we're
Kevin Warenda:
willing to accept, in terms of risk, and then just making
Kevin Warenda:
common sense decisions with people, though, like we don't
Kevin Warenda:
just say no to everything, where we don't say yes to everything.
Kevin Warenda:
If there is a justifiable value in that thing, and it's we're
Kevin Warenda:
not already doing something else, if it's not going it's not
Kevin Warenda:
going to duplicate resources or something of that nature, then
Kevin Warenda:
I'm happy to say yes and support that. But we have 1000s of tools
Kevin Warenda:
in place. I keep a meticulous inventory of all the ones I know
Kevin Warenda:
about. Does that mean there's not shadow it? Now there's
Kevin Warenda:
absolutely a little bit of a wild west in some areas.
Kevin Warenda:
Sometimes I know about things, and I make a value judgment and
Kevin Warenda:
say, I'm not going to push on that because it doesn't rise to
Kevin Warenda:
the level of risk. I'm not going to create a problem where there
Kevin Warenda:
doesn't need to be one. But there's other areas where I
Kevin Warenda:
absolutely find out about things, and I say, oh, there's
Kevin Warenda:
really an intense risk there. We need to discuss why that is, and
Kevin Warenda:
then say, can we bring that into proper compliance? That's not to
Kevin Warenda:
say we're taking it away. No, you can't have it. But like, is
Kevin Warenda:
there a process to get to a yes? I'm always looking for a way to
Kevin Warenda:
get to yes. People may not think that that's the case, so that's
Kevin Warenda:
the intention. They probably thank Kevin for Department of
Kevin Warenda:
No, but I prefer to be the Department of know how, and kind
Kevin Warenda:
of bring the expertise and say that's fine. You want to use
Kevin Warenda:
that tool if it's meeting your outcomes. But if you adopted
Kevin Warenda:
that on your own, like there's some things we need to do just
Kevin Warenda:
to bring that into the fold, to make sure that we're properly
Kevin Warenda:
managing that resource, to make sure that it has an actual
Kevin Warenda:
return on investment for the school, if dollars are being
Kevin Warenda:
spent that it's actually meaningfully impacting the lives
Kevin Warenda:
of either faculty, staff or students, ultimately, to support
Kevin Warenda:
students
Christina Lewellen:
in their education. Are there aspects of
Christina Lewellen:
boarding school life that would surprise non boarding school
Christina Lewellen:
tech leaders. What do you have to deal with that bill and Hiram
Christina Lewellen:
don't have to deal with?
Hiram Cuevas:
Well, I guess a follow up, Christina. I mean,
Hiram Cuevas:
you probably have an international community as well
Hiram Cuevas:
as boarders, right?
Kevin Warenda:
Yeah, we have a substantial international
Kevin Warenda:
community of students.
Hiram Cuevas:
So from a data processing perspective, you got
Hiram Cuevas:
a variety of different data agreements that you also have to
Hiram Cuevas:
be compliant with. Australia has different ones. Asia has
Hiram Cuevas:
different ones. GDP are
Kevin Warenda:
the reality is that even in the US, because
Kevin Warenda:
there's not a centralized federal law, we have that even
Kevin Warenda:
in the States. So I would say that I don't look at the
Kevin Warenda:
International piece of that much different. Yes, it's more
Kevin Warenda:
countries to manage. But again, it's all just part of a best
Kevin Warenda:
practice risk management approach. Understand what the
Kevin Warenda:
regulations are. Make sure we understand we have an inventory
Kevin Warenda:
of what systems we're using to process people's data. The
Kevin Warenda:
residential aspect being the ISP essentially for people, right?
Kevin Warenda:
We're providing Internet service and networking for residential
Kevin Warenda:
areas which have nothing to do with the academic or business.
Kevin Warenda:
Running of the school is certainly a large piece of
Kevin Warenda:
things. Again, we have, I think, 75 families just on campus alone
Kevin Warenda:
that we're we are literally managing their stuff. And their
Kevin Warenda:
stuff has, over time, become more complicated. You know,
Kevin Warenda:
everything is now smart. Everything's on the network. So
Kevin Warenda:
it's 1000s of little pieces of this and that that we, you know
Kevin Warenda:
have to properly manage but provide a service that they're
Kevin Warenda:
not paying for. But that's a key part. That's a benefit for them
Kevin Warenda:
to have the on campus residents, these are for some of their
Kevin Warenda:
spouses. They work from home, right? They may not be
Kevin Warenda:
affiliated with the school other than being in the spouse of a
Kevin Warenda:
faculty that needs to work for that person you know in order to
Kevin Warenda:
do their job, which may not have anything to do with Hotchkiss.
Kevin Warenda:
So some of those aspects are probably unique to a boarding
Kevin Warenda:
school where it's both adults and students. You know, students
Kevin Warenda:
are trying to do all kinds of things outside of academic
Kevin Warenda:
activities. So we're not just focused on supporting the
Kevin Warenda:
network and activities for that piece of it, right? We have an
Kevin Warenda:
entire student activities department. You know, in
Kevin Warenda:
addition to clubs and affinity groups and everything else.
Kevin Warenda:
There's all kinds of programming outside of the academic day for
Kevin Warenda:
them to support co curriculars. We do all kinds of international
Kevin Warenda:
travel with students, especially around breaks. So there's
Kevin Warenda:
processes and support to be done and data to be secured about all
Kevin Warenda:
those trips too. So there's a lot to a boarding school
Kevin Warenda:
community to manage beyond what day schools do. But a lot of it,
Kevin Warenda:
I think, is actually more of the same, just a little bit
Kevin Warenda:
different in terms of the scope many of these things. You know,
Kevin Warenda:
protecting the schools data is important, whether you're day
Kevin Warenda:
school or boarding school, but yeah, you're going to see the
Kevin Warenda:
data in more things. You're going to have more tools you
Kevin Warenda:
need to manage all these other aspects of a boarding or
Kevin Warenda:
residential program that you don't otherwise have.
Hiram Cuevas:
Kevin, you had talked about a small project,
Hiram Cuevas:
institutional research. I call that small, right?
Christina Lewellen:
I don't think that's small. It's very
Christina Lewellen:
big,
Hiram Cuevas:
I know. And the fact that you're creating a data
Hiram Cuevas:
warehouse, can you elaborate a little bit more on what kind of
Hiram Cuevas:
research hostages is actually looking to accomplish with this
Hiram Cuevas:
satellite department that you have are now part of
Kevin Warenda:
I'm not sure we've really defined that, so
Kevin Warenda:
that's part of the discussion. So I have great support from our
Kevin Warenda:
Associate Head of School, who's new to the school just a couple
Kevin Warenda:
years so she hasn't interested in this. Our dean of academic
Kevin Warenda:
life has been with the school for a long time and been in
Kevin Warenda:
different roles. He has a. Desire to get more decision
Kevin Warenda:
support out of our academic data. What we realize as a
Kevin Warenda:
school, what I've come to realize over the time I've been
Kevin Warenda:
at Hotchkiss, is we just haven't had an organized approach,
Kevin Warenda:
right? We have many, many different information systems.
Kevin Warenda:
Everything's kind of a silo. There is benefit to bringing
Kevin Warenda:
those together, and that really comes from an experience I had
Kevin Warenda:
when I was at UConn in higher ed, because one of the
Kevin Warenda:
departments I supported under the vice provost, there was the
Kevin Warenda:
institutional research office, right, and that was the office
Kevin Warenda:
that at the time, right, went to school back then, you weren't
Kevin Warenda:
doing things online, you were doing on scan Tron sheets, and
Kevin Warenda:
they were bringing those in for course evaluations and trying to
Kevin Warenda:
make decisions about what programs to run and how faculty
Kevin Warenda:
were performing based on some of that data. We don't do any of
Kevin Warenda:
that at Hotchkiss, and some of the initiatives that are
Kevin Warenda:
currently being undertaken are around faculty growth and
Kevin Warenda:
evaluation, you know, trying to get an actual program in place
Kevin Warenda:
that's going to require us to collect and then analyze data
Kevin Warenda:
around that. So we need a facility to do that. We have
Kevin Warenda:
lots of great conversations going on about student health
Kevin Warenda:
and well being, and we do a number of surveys for that with
Kevin Warenda:
outside partners and such. But to bring that back to a central
Kevin Warenda:
place where then that can be linked with other relevant data
Kevin Warenda:
would be useful. We do a ton of information gathering,
Kevin Warenda:
reporting, again, within each functional area. You know,
Kevin Warenda:
advancement is doing a ton of information analysis about how
Kevin Warenda:
best to fundraise. Admissions is doing that, and has been doing
Kevin Warenda:
that for a number of years with respect to application process.
Kevin Warenda:
But folks would love to know the through line of that, are there
Kevin Warenda:
predictors of certain outcomes, and what is the predictor of
Kevin Warenda:
student success? How do you build programs for that. So
Kevin Warenda:
again, thinking about the Neas study, it's a self study to
Kevin Warenda:
think, how are you running your programs? How are you resourced?
Kevin Warenda:
What are you going to do next? So I think we've been dancing as
Kevin Warenda:
an organization. We've been dancing around this idea of,
Kevin Warenda:
there's all kinds of things we might want to do. And again,
Kevin Warenda:
this is where I think some of the churn and senior leadership,
Kevin Warenda:
you know, someone comes in, they have an issue, they want to
Kevin Warenda:
start, but then if they leave, someone else doesn't necessarily
Kevin Warenda:
pick that up. So I think we've just gotten away with the fact
Kevin Warenda:
that we don't have institutional research office, or we haven't
Kevin Warenda:
been doing this in a programmatic, centralized way.
Kevin Warenda:
It's not just say it hasn't been done again, every area is kind
Kevin Warenda:
of doing their own and analyzing their own thing. My desire,
Kevin Warenda:
again, is that kind of systems thinker, collaborator in chief,
Kevin Warenda:
bring all those pieces together. And so my proposal at the time,
Kevin Warenda:
two years ago, when I kind of started that project, was, if
Kevin Warenda:
you build it, they will come. I was only looking to build the
Kevin Warenda:
infrastructure, a place to put the data. And I actually worked
Kevin Warenda:
with mission and data a little bit to kind of build some of
Kevin Warenda:
that piece. But I've with the CIRIS resources, actually been
Kevin Warenda:
able to do more of that myself. I'm not an expert on the data
Kevin Warenda:
analysis side, but I am trying to be an expert on the what
Kevin Warenda:
infrastructure can I provide you so that those who want to take
Kevin Warenda:
up these questions, that you have a place to ask that
Kevin Warenda:
question, and we have aggregated enough information to help you
Kevin Warenda:
answer that in a meaningful way. And so that's really what it
Kevin Warenda:
comes down to, is I'm looking again, as I do with most of the
Kevin Warenda:
types of things I'm doing, is I'm looking to find something I
Kevin Warenda:
can build to help others get to a place where they can
Kevin Warenda:
understand the impact of the program, of the initiative, or
Kevin Warenda:
make decisions about what to do next that are data informed, and
Kevin Warenda:
not just, let's just try the next thing, or let's just do the
Kevin Warenda:
next thing that someone has an idea for. So I think we're
Kevin Warenda:
maturing in that respect as an organization, and I think that
Kevin Warenda:
we're actually lucky we didn't start this sooner. Many
Kevin Warenda:
organizations are on like, version three of their
Kevin Warenda:
warehouse, and they've had to scrap everything because they
Kevin Warenda:
were early adopters. Learned the hard way, and then are now
Kevin Warenda:
starting over again. We get to start from all those lessons
Kevin Warenda:
learned and just kind of hit the ground running.
Christina Lewellen:
That's really great, that you've put
Christina Lewellen:
your own personal interests and layered it on top of what's
Christina Lewellen:
great for the school, and that'll be awesome. I'd love to
Christina Lewellen:
have you keep talking to us about that IR journey that
Christina Lewellen:
you're on, because it sounds really interesting, especially
Christina Lewellen:
that you're driving it. So that's really incredible.
Christina Lewellen:
That'll be a deeper dive for another day. Andor you got to
Christina Lewellen:
present that, I think, at ATLIS conference. But before we run
Christina Lewellen:
out of time with you, I want to go with a little bit of a rapid
Christina Lewellen:
fire, because you are a fan of this pod. You were so supportive
Christina Lewellen:
from day one, reaching out to us and letting us know that you
Christina Lewellen:
were a fan and that you were following along. I'd be willing
Christina Lewellen:
to bet you haven't missed many episodes, not one. Oh my gosh,
Christina Lewellen:
bless your little heart. Oh, that makes me happy. Thank you
Christina Lewellen:
for being our number one.
Kevin Warenda:
I have an hour and a half commute to school
Kevin Warenda:
actually, so I need as many podcasts as I can to listen to
Kevin Warenda:
so I wouldn't miss
Christina Lewellen:
it for the world. I love that. Thank you.
Christina Lewellen:
Okay, so now that means that you know that we've been through our
Christina Lewellen:
journey on these wrap up questions, so we're going to
Christina Lewellen:
fire a bunch of them at you all at once. Okay, okay, so we
Christina Lewellen:
normally say, how do you take your coffee? How do you respond
Kevin Warenda:
to that? I'm a tea drinker. Sorry.
Christina Lewellen:
And as it turns out, you like bourbon. So
Christina Lewellen:
what's your bourbon?
Kevin Warenda:
By any bourbon will do in a storm, I guess,
Kevin Warenda:
good answer. Okay, I'm not a cop. And a sore Perez, but it's
Kevin Warenda:
your vibe. I do like bourbon over whiskey.
Christina Lewellen:
Oh, how do you feel about zombies? Yeah.
Kevin Warenda:
So I'm not a particular fan of the undead,
Kevin Warenda:
but I have, because of this podcast, I have put a
Kevin Warenda:
substantial amount of thought and prompts into chat GPT to
Kevin Warenda:
kind of come up with what would be my melee weapon of choice. So
Kevin Warenda:
nice. I have settled on the machete. Okay, doesn't require
Kevin Warenda:
batteries. Can be used as a utility, and just for, you know,
Kevin Warenda:
absolute carnage. I think that that's gonna be my choice.
Hiram Cuevas:
Yeah, he's on the team
Bill Stites:
Exactly. I'm just glad you did your research.
Kevin Warenda:
Shout out to Peter Frank. I just in the 100th
Kevin Warenda:
episode wrap up. Oh, where he went through the painstaking
Kevin Warenda:
effort to get all the zombie references. It is hysterical.
Kevin Warenda:
I'm still laughing, actually, that it was amazing.
Christina Lewellen:
We are too. Every once in a while that just
Christina Lewellen:
needs to be like your day end jam, to just let go of stress or
Christina Lewellen:
something, because it is very funny and it's very us. So he's
Christina Lewellen:
an incredible contributor in the back behind the scenes of this
Christina Lewellen:
podcast. If I need you to guest host this pod for me, are you
Christina Lewellen:
willing? Absolutely sure? All right, guys, so the next one I
Christina Lewellen:
can't make, we are inviting Kevin. He's gonna guest host,
Christina Lewellen:
since he's our number one fan.
Hiram Cuevas:
Then he gets to put up with us. It's gonna put
Hiram Cuevas:
us all out of a job.
Kevin Warenda:
Exactly what I've learned is you can fix it in
Kevin Warenda:
post.
Christina Lewellen:
So we can fix it in post. My advice to
Christina Lewellen:
you, friend is, when I call on you just make sure you have that
Christina Lewellen:
bourbon. Any bourbon will do you might want a little bit of that
Christina Lewellen:
before you come and try to wrangle this whole situation,
Christina Lewellen:
bourbon and tea,
Kevin Warenda:
I will say, I don't know, Christina, the
Kevin Warenda:
special sauce that you have, you know the questions to ask to
Kevin Warenda:
really get people to answer with amazing answers. So I would not
Kevin Warenda:
do nearly the job you did, but I'd be willing to give it a shot
Kevin Warenda:
for sure.
Christina Lewellen:
Okay, that's going to be your next audition.
Christina Lewellen:
It's happening. Everybody you heard it here. Our next co host
Christina Lewellen:
is going to be Kevin. Kevin, thank you so much for joining us
Christina Lewellen:
today. This has been a really great conversation. You are just
Christina Lewellen:
such a great fan and such a great supporter of Atlas, so I'm
Christina Lewellen:
so glad we got to have you on the pod to chat with you a
Christina Lewellen:
little
Kevin Warenda:
bit. Thanks so much for having me. It's been a
Kevin Warenda:
pleasure.
Peter Frank:
This has been talking technology with ATLIS,
Peter Frank:
produced by the Association of technology leaders in
Peter Frank:
independent schools. For more information about Atlas and
Peter Frank:
Atlas membership, please visit the atlas.org if you enjoyed
Peter Frank:
this discussion, please subscribe, leave a review and
Peter Frank:
share this podcast with your colleagues in the independent
Peter Frank:
school community. Thank you for listening. You.
