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Dear NMNS Board,

Many thanks for your time and effort to join us in DC for our recent board meeting. I personally felt very energized by our time together and look forward to moving through this year with you.

Just once more I want to thank Jane for hosting a beautiful dinner in her home. There is something special about being in a home and sharing time, conversation, and great food and wine together. Perhaps this is what set the collegial, thoughtful, and energetic tone for our meeting the next morning.

A few follow-up items:

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I am meeting this week with our two new board members, Hunter Biden and Mike Rodgers, to orient them further to the Network and membership on the board. Both were delighted to hear that the board had approved their nominations and I sense are eager to get to work on our behalf.
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Greg and I also have a meeting scheduled with Patrick Rafferty to start work on the marketing plan which we can present to the board at our February 1-2 meeting in Florida.
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I was encouraged by the positive response to the individual game plan presented by Paul Minorini on behalf of the Development Committee. Greg and/or I will be following up with each of you to see how we can be of help in implementing your plan. (I have attached it for your quick reference.)
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I introduced the work done on revising our by-laws to school leaders who seemed to take the new practice of voting-in board members in stride. We are following up to ensure a majority of voters. One thing worth mentioning is something we already know: several school leaders took note of the very limited number of women and minority board members. We know that this does command our attention.

As you know, our board meeting was followed by our GSP Conference and Leadership Institute. The post-conference survey, still trickling in, indicates that we seemed to strike the right balance between the practical and inspiring. Our leaders come to our conference to re-connect, to seize the opportunity to network among peers, to feel a part of something larger, to get some new ideas about some ever present challenges. I am confident we succeeded in providing this. 25% of the survey respondents indicated this was their first conference and 24% had attended 5 or more conferences in the past. This combination of new and nicely seasoned veterans of our mission, I believe, adds to the value of spending time together.


Enough for now. I will be in touch soon, but as always, please feel free to call me anytime with questions, concerns, introductions to friends, etc.


Warmest regards,

Mary Claire


Mary Claire Ryan
Executive Director
NativityMiguel Network of Schools
900 Varnum Street NE
Washington, DC 20017
Cell: 917-295-1212
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