Message from the Chair

February 2026 NACAC Board Meeting Update

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I’m pleased to share updates from our recent retreat in Arlington, Virginia. As our association navigates the current challenges in higher education, we also are committed to forward thinking that positions our association for the future.

This is a challenging time for higher education, and we have leaned on our partners for support and perspective. At our retreat, we heard from association CEOs at NASPA, CASE, and NACUA, who shared insights into trends affecting the higher education association landscape. They spoke about the risks and headwinds facing our sector — and how their organizations and boards are building their resilience, relevance, and impact. We’re grateful for their perspective and partnership during this time.

Guided by association strategy expert George Miller of McKinley Advisors, we also sought to envision NACAC in 2030. One of our priorities is to expand our philanthropic partnerships. We were pleased to explore this goal in a panel discussion with executive leaders from Strada Education Foundation, which funded the launch of NACAC’s Designing Your Life (DYL) Fellowship. Because of their support, more than 30 counselors in our year-long fellowship are being trained in a proven life-design curriculum that’s been adapted to help students make informed college and career decisions. This is the kind of philanthropic, high-impact work NACAC seeks to do.

Of course, our goals are built around much of the momentum that we’ve already created. NACAC CEO Angel B. Pérez offered a thoughtful retrospective of the past six years, highlighting the association’s governance transformation, the strengthening of our finance, expansion of our revenue model, meaningful investments in the member experience, and the extraordinary growth and success of NACAC’s philanthropy efforts. He highlighted NACAC’s role as the chief advocate and trusted source for the college admission counseling profession, and the ways our advocacy is making a difference federally and in state legislatures across the country. Angel’s reflections grounded our conversations in both progress and possibilities. To read more about the association’s success that Angel shared in his board presentation, see NACAC’s Impact Report.

To cap off an impactful two days, we also spent time with NACAC headquarters staff over lunch. It was energizing to be together, to celebrate our accomplishments, and to be united by our shared commitment to serve members and students.

I am grateful for the opportunity to pause and think boldly about our future as an association before we move into a very busy spring season for our profession.

To be well positioned for future impact, we need members like you to share your expertise with our association. I hope you will consider a NACAC leadership opportunity, either through service on a committee, the Board of Trustees, or by being involved with one of our 23 affiliates. Our association is strongest when members step forward to lead.