Leadership Lessons with Lasting Impact:
Featured Sessions at the 2025 CCBO Leadership Academy
The 2025 CCBO Leadership Academy is set to equip emerging and experienced college business officers with the tools, strategies, and perspectives they need to lead with confidence in today’s ever-changing higher education landscape. This year’s agenda features Dr. Nerita Hughes, Dr. Merrill Irving, and Chris Murphy—each bringing unique insight into the complexities and demands of leadership at the college executive level.
Strategic Growth Through Enrollment, Recruitment, and Retention
Dynamic higher education leaders Dr. Nerita Hughes and Dr. Merrill Irving, Jr. will present Enrollment, Recruitment, and Retention: How to Increase the College Revenue Stream at the CCBO Leadership Academy.
This session explores strategic approaches to boosting institutional revenue through targeted enrollment, recruitment, and retention efforts. With mounting competition and shifting demographics, aligning these critical areas is essential to ensuring long-term financial sustainability and institutional growth.
Dr. Hughes currently serves as President of Bay de Noc Community College. Her career includes leadership roles in workforce innovation, academic affairs, and professional development at North Hennepin Community College, as well as in organizational effectiveness in the public sector. Dr. Hughes holds a Doctorate of Education in Leadership from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, where she also earned her MBA. She is an expert in cultural competency, racial equity, and strengths-based development and has served on numerous regional and national boards focused on economic and workforce development.
Dr. Irving, Jr. is Senior Executive of Advisory Services with Ferrilli, where he advises higher education institutions on enrollment management, student experience, DEI strategy, and institutional planning. He previously served as a college president for seven years and was named College President of the Year by the Minnesota State College Student Association. Dr. Irving, Jr. holds a Doctor of Education from the University of Southern California, as well as a BA and MPA from West Virginia University. His career spans over two decades and includes leadership in major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami, with a focus on student success and workforce innovation.
Together, Dr. Hughes and Dr. Irving, Jr. offer real-world insights from the college CEO seat—sharing proven strategies to strengthen your institution’s enrollment pipeline and financial future.
Resilient Leadership in Crisis: Managing the Inevitable “Dumpster Fires”
From budget crises to public relations missteps, campus leaders are no strangers to chaos—and Chris Murphy, CPA, brings a much-needed sense of humor and hard-earned wisdom to this reality in his session, Managing Dumpster Fires in Higher Ed: A Tactical Toolkit for College Leaders.
As Vice President of Finance at Northeast Mississippi Community College, Chris draws from real-world case studies to help participants navigate leadership challenges with clarity and purpose. His session reframes institutional “fires” as opportunities for institutional reflection, resilient leadership, and strategic recovery, equipping attendees with a practical toolkit to assess, contain, and clean up higher ed messes—while preparing their colleges to avoid the next one.
Chris’s 18 years in public practice and more than a decade of higher ed leadership inform his pragmatic, yet approachable style. A past CCBO president and current Assistant Dean of the Leadership Academy, he remains an active mentor and contributor to the field—teaching payroll accounting online courses and presenting across the country.
With sessions like these, the 2025 CCBO Leadership Academy continues its mission to develop confident, adaptable leaders who are ready to meet the demands of modern college leadership. This year’s lineup delivers insights and strategies to help strengthen institutional revenue, navigate unpredictable challenges, and empower leaders to make a lasting impact.
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