
FY25 Annual Institute - May15only
-
Register
- Non-member - $275
- Community Admin - Free!
This one-day conference registration is designed for non-MASBO-member school employees to access all content sessions and meals between 7:00am and 4:00pm on May 15, 2025.

-
Contains 1 Component(s), Includes Credits
Learn how to build, inspire, and guide teams to make financial decisions that support schools and students. Show your understanding by completing an online evaluation.
Leading with Purpose - build, inspire, and guide teams to make strategic and thoughtful financial decisions that support schools and students. Ensure every dollar spent creates better learning environments and helps students succeed.
Adam Braun
Keynote Speaker
Executive Speakers Bureau
Adam Braun is a 3x award-winning entrepreneur, New York Times & Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and a world-renowned keynote speaker on leadership and innovation. His talks have been watched more than 3 million times, and the businesses he has founded and led have raised over $100MM by leveraging his unique, teachable framework - Build For Where The World Is Headed. As CEO of Clarasight, a technology company focused on company sustainability whose clients represent more than $1T in market capitalization and Chairman of Pencils of Promise, the organization he started with $25 that has built more than 600 schools around the world, his talks are rooted in the authentic first-hand lessons learned through successes and struggles in building pioneering companies with acclaimed leaders at the frontlines of industry innovation. His journey has taken him to 75 countries to identify how the world's best leaders navigate uncertainty to shape the future, and by distilling these universal learnings he has been featured as a speaker at The White House, Stanford and Harvard Business Schools, and countless Fortune 500 companies, industry associations and universities. His book, The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change, is an international bestseller that reached the #1 spot on What Corporate America Is Reading. He has also been named to Business Insider’s 40 Under 40, Wired’s 50 People Who Will Change the World, and is the recipient of the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award as well as the United States' most prestigious award for public service, the Jefferson Award.
-
Contains 2 Component(s), Includes Credits
Learn how to accurately complete the balance sheet checklist and undesignated fund balance analysis to expedite E&D certification. Show your understanding by completing an online evaluation.
***2-hour session***
We will review the balance sheet checklist and the undesignated fund balance analysis including the encumbrance process. These are the two most common hold-ups in the E&D process. We hope to better explain what is expected and what we are looking for within these two forms in order to simplify and expedite your certification. After our presentation we will have a question and answer period for all things E&D no matter if they are related to our presentation. This session is geared toward all Regional School Business personnel regardless of years of experience and all others are welcome.
Bobbi Jo Colburn
Field Representative, Worcester Bureau of Accounts
Massachusetts Division of Local Services
Jared Curtis
Field Representative
Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Springfield
Andrew S. Nelson
Bureau of Accounts Supervisor
Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Central Region
Michael Knight (Moderator)
School Business Administrator
Greater Lowell Regional Vocational Technical
Michael Knight, MBA is the School Business Administrator Greater Lowell Regional Vocational Technical School District. Michael has worked in the field of school business for 6 years and was credited with implementing cost saving strategies saving over $400,000 annually in his previous school district, Groton-Dunstable Regional. Previous to working in school business Michael worked in technology and construction sales.
Michael’s goal serving as a board member would be to help foster an environment of continuous learning and thought share within MASBO. The greatest strength MASBO has is the membership, there are millions of hours of experience collectively held by the MASBO membership and finding ways to share and memorialize the lessons learned from this experience would be his top priority.
When not crunching budget numbers, Michael enjoys playing golf, hiking with his dog, and watching sports.
-
Contains 1 Component(s), Includes Credits
Learn how resourcefulness and strategic thinking can drive meaningful change for students despite financial constraints. Show your understanding by completing an online evaluation.
"Beyond Balancing Budgets: Financial Leadership That Shapes the Future of Education" - Adam Braun will share powerful, real-world stories from his journey in founding Pencils of Promise and how resourcefulness, strategic thinking, and purpose-driven leadership can drive meaningful change for students to improve their lives — even in the face of financial constraints.
Adam Braun
Keynote Speaker
Executive Speakers Bureau
Adam Braun is a 3x award-winning entrepreneur, New York Times & Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and a world-renowned keynote speaker on leadership and innovation. His talks have been watched more than 3 million times, and the businesses he has founded and led have raised over $100MM by leveraging his unique, teachable framework - Build For Where The World Is Headed. As CEO of Clarasight, a technology company focused on company sustainability whose clients represent more than $1T in market capitalization and Chairman of Pencils of Promise, the organization he started with $25 that has built more than 600 schools around the world, his talks are rooted in the authentic first-hand lessons learned through successes and struggles in building pioneering companies with acclaimed leaders at the frontlines of industry innovation. His journey has taken him to 75 countries to identify how the world's best leaders navigate uncertainty to shape the future, and by distilling these universal learnings he has been featured as a speaker at The White House, Stanford and Harvard Business Schools, and countless Fortune 500 companies, industry associations and universities. His book, The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change, is an international bestseller that reached the #1 spot on What Corporate America Is Reading. He has also been named to Business Insider’s 40 Under 40, Wired’s 50 People Who Will Change the World, and is the recipient of the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award as well as the United States' most prestigious award for public service, the Jefferson Award.
Daniel Gale (Moderator)
Director of Finance and Operations
Hudson Public Schools
Daniel Gale has been in school finance since 2008 and has worked in Worcester, Clinton, Grafton, and now Hudson. He graduated from Bucknell University with a major in Business Mgmt and from Clark University with a Master in Public Administration, and also completed the MASBO licensure program. Daniel is currently on the Board of Directors of MASBO. He enjoys professional development and collaborating with colleagues. When not in the office, he enjoys playing all sports, especially golf, with friends and with his son.
-
Contains 1 Component(s), Includes Credits
Learn how to educate and communicate with school committee members about your district's finances. Show your understanding by completing an online evaluation.
It is critical that school committees are kept informed on the financial well-being of the district. In this session, we'll discuss why it's important, how to tell the story of your district's finances, and how to educate your school committee members to ask the right questions.
NOTE: The 10:50 session that follows this session demonstrates how to prepare these reports in Excel. Bring your laptop if you plan to stay in the room for the 10:50 session.
Tracy Novick
Field Director
Massachusetts Association of School Committees
Michael MacMillan
School Business Manager
Monomoy Regional School District
Michael MacMillan is currently the Business Manager for the Monomoy Regional School District. He previously held the same position in the Cohasset Public Schools and Wareham Public Schools. Prior to entering school finance, Michael worked in school technology, national government finance and policy, and management consulting.
-
Contains 1 Component(s), Includes Credits
Learn how to use a MAPT-supported website to resolve special education transportation challenges. Show your understanding by completing an online evaluation.
A review and discussion of the tools and resources available through MAPT's spedtranssavings.org website to address your special education transportation challenges.
Colleen Cavanaugh
Director of Planning and Operations
Massachusetts Association of Pupil Transportation
Ms. Colleen Cavanaugh has been involved in Special Education Transportation for 32+ years. She has been a leader on the State Special Education Transportation Taskforce since 2004 and her subsequent work has resulted in substantial savings. Ms. Cavanaugh has been actively involved in the Massachusetts Association of Pupil Transportation (MAPT) since 1987 and she is currently the Director of Planning and Operations. She served on the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles’ Special Education Transportation Committee where regulations were recommended to further promote safety and quality of services for all special education students in the Commonwealth.
-
Contains 1 Component(s), Includes Credits
Learn how one region of Massachusetts collaborated to save money on 7D student transportation. Show your understanding by completing an online evaluation.
This session will discuss how a region tied to a Special Education Collaborative that encompasses 20 school districts in the North Shore of Massachusetts was able to establish its own transportation network to leverage economies of scale with respect to purchasing power and passenger load to save districts money. Initiatives like this are more important than ever given the rising costs of student transportation along with ever limited financial resources available to school districts.
Samuel Rippin
Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance
Peabody Public Schools
Sam Rippin has been the School Business Manager for the Peabody Public Schools since 2022. Prior to Peabody, Sam has worked in a similar capacity in five other districts since 2001.
Sam is currently the Immediate Past President of MASBO. He also holds the Certified Administrator of School Finance and Operations (SFO) from ASBO.
He is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of Ohio.
He has presented at both MASBO and ASBO conferences on many occasions.
-
Contains 1 Component(s), Includes Credits
Learn how to use Excel to prepare essential financial reports for your school committee. Show your understanding by completing an online evaluation.
Building on the previous session on financial reporting to the School Committee, this session will discuss the nuts and bolts of using Excel to prepare the data, tables, and graphs to present to your School Committee. Including building the historical database, reviewing trends, forecasting expenditures, and presenting data (BRING YOUR LAPTOP IF YOU WANT TO WORK IN EXCEL WHILE WE LEARN).
NOTE: Attending the previous session at 9:40 is encouraged, but not required.
Michael MacMillan
School Business Manager
Monomoy Regional School District
Michael MacMillan is currently the Business Manager for the Monomoy Regional School District. He previously held the same position in the Cohasset Public Schools and Wareham Public Schools. Prior to entering school finance, Michael worked in school technology, national government finance and policy, and management consulting.
Tracy Novick
Field Director
Massachusetts Association of School Committees
-
Contains 1 Component(s), Includes Credits
Learn how to demonstrate your LEA's MOE eligibility. Show your understanding by completing an online evaluation.
This hands-on session will illustrate how an LEA can demonstrate MOE eligibility through either: (1) the combination of State and local funds in the aggregate; or (2) the combination of State and local funds on a per capita basis.
Howard Barber
Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations
Old Rochester Regional School District
Howard (Howie) Barber is a CPA for 25 years and has been a school business official for 15+ years. He is currently in his 3rd year as the Assistant Superintendent of Finance & Operations with the Old Rochester Regional School District & Mass School Superintendency Union #55. Howie is also an owner / president of a public CPA firm for 15+ years. He is an active member of MASBO, having served on the Board of Directors of MASBO & Past President, was the Chair of Strategic Plan Development Committee, previous Lecturer of the Massachusetts Education Licensure Program, along with many other organization functions; as well as ASBO International currently serving on the ASBOI Editorial Advisory Committee, Presenter for Transportation and Covid Impacted Operations, Committee Planning Member for ACE, and member of the Boot Camp Planning team and Chaired the Finance Resource Management Task Group.
-
Contains 2 Component(s), Includes Credits
Learn through discussion and questioning from colleagues and state-level employees about a variety of topics. Show your understanding by completing an online evaluation.
Join us for an engaging and interactive “Listserv Live” session — an opportunity to connect, collaborate, and share insights with fellow School Business Administrators!
After lunch on Thursday, we’ll host a dynamic, one-hour roundtable event where you can dive into timely and relevant topics that matter most to your work. Each of our 25 discussion tables will focus on a specific topic of interest, with a facilitator - a fellow School Business Administrator - to help guide the conversation and keep discussions flowing.
-
Contains 1 Component(s), Includes Credits
Learn best practices for managing and reviewing student activity accounts. Show your understanding by completing an online evaluation.
Student activity accounts provide an additional support within your district. Learn best practices for managing student activity accounts and how they support the 3-year external audit cycle and the two off-year internal reviews.
Tony Roselli, CPA, CGMA
Partner
Roselli, Clark and Associates
35 years of experience in the Municipal Sector servicing over 60 Municipal Accounts annually. Member of the AICPA, MSCPA, GFOA and GAQC. Board member, MSCPA Government Auditing Committee. Special Review Member – GFOA CAFR review program. Frequent discussion leader across the State - MSCPA, MCTA, MMAAA, MGFOA, NEGFOA, MASBO. Works very closely with all his clients regarding GAAP/GASB implementation.
Dolly Sharek (Moderator)
Director of Finance and Business Operations
South Middlesex Regional Vocational Technical School District