Setting and Achieving Goals with NBOA’s Financial Sustainability Heat Map

As NBOA’s director, research and data analysis, Elizabeth Dabney leads the development, planning and management of industry research using data from the association’s Business Intelligence for Independent Schools (BIIS, pronounced “biz”) platform, in addition to other research activities as identified by the association’s strategic plan. Dabney’s research and analysis supports NBOA’s mission to inform NBOA members and other external stakeholders and encourage data-driven decision making throughout the independent school community. Dabney brings to NBOA more than 20 years of research experience. Previously, she was the director, research and policy analysis at the Data Quality Campaign, a nonprofit education policy and advocacy organization, and the nation’s leading voice on education data policy and use.

Mary Kay Markunas supports NBOA's full line of professional development offerings including the NBOA Annual Meeting, Business Officer Institute, webinars and online courses, and also provides resources and support to members. A former independent school business officer, she develops and delivers programs and content related to independent school business operations, leadership and governance, and nonprofit accounting practices. Markunas joined NBOA in early 2015 after serving as the director of finance and operations at The Avery Coonley School for 12 years. While a business officer, she served on the NBOA board of directors for five years (2010-2015). Before joining the independent school community, she worked in corporate finance at a global corporation and in engineering consulting.

For 12 years, Chad Stacy served as CFO at Dunn School, a 250-student day and boarding school for grades 6-12 in Los Olivos, California. In that time, he led the school to a position of greater financial strength, from the aftermath of the Great Recession through the COVID-19 pandemic. His creation and long-term use of a financial sustainability heat map has not only been key to Dunn’s financial health but has also helped other schools that picked up the tool after Stacy shared it in NBOA’s Net Assets magazine in 2016. In fall 2022, Stacy transitioned to serving as director of the Robert W. Jurgensen Entrepreneurship Program at Dunn. He had previously mentored student entrepreneurial efforts across campus, such as a student investment program, and in his current role, he oversees real world student-led consulting and business efforts. Before Dunn, Stacy served as director of finance at Literacy Pittsburgh for eight years, and he began his career as a certified public accountant at Ernst & Young. He has been a board chair, treasurer, trustee and vestry member for several nonprofit churches, arts and social services organizations.