A Special Look at Leadership: A Conversation with the ACUHO-I President

Ever wonder what it takes to lead a major professional association while juggling a demanding day job? In this special mini-episode celebrating the ACUHO-I Annual Conference, we sit down with Kathy Hobgood, current ACUHO-I President and Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Enterprises at Clemson University.

Kathy takes us behind the curtain of association leadership, revealing why professional organizations matter now more than ever. "How can we provide a place for people to come together and just be together, even if there's no answers?" she asks, highlighting the community-building function that remains crucial during challenging times in higher education. We explore ACUHO-I's three-pronged approach—community, education, and advocacy—that helps housing professionals navigate everything from budget crises to occupancy challenges.

The conversation turns personal as Kathy shares her unexpected journey to leadership, including a pivotal conversation with a mentor who challenged her to serve her region before seeking national office. Her revelation about fundraising—"I used to think I was terrible at asking people for money. I'm going to find out I am shameless in the name of a good cause"—offers a powerful reminder that leadership roles often help us discover strengths we didn't know we had. For anyone attending the upcoming conference, Kathy's advice to be "as aggressively friendly as your personality type will allow" and to make time for industry partners even when not currently buying, provides a practical roadmap for making the most of professional development opportunities.

Whether you're heading to Columbus for Campus Home Live or simply curious about the housing profession, this conversation offers valuable insights about professional growth, association leadership, and finding your people in higher education. Connect with us at the conference or share this episode with colleagues who might benefit from a little inspiration and practical wisdom!

Transcript

Introduction to On Campus, Off the Record

Speaker 1 0:00

Hey, hey, I'm Maddie and you're listening to On Campus, Off the Record, my aunt's podcast. That's way cooler than your last Zoom meeting.

Speaker 2 0:08

Get ready, because it's about to get smart and fun, just like me.

Speaker 1 0:12

Thanks, maddie. Hi friends, welcome back to On Campus, off the Record, the podcast where I sit down with people I admire respect and, honestly, just want to grab a drink with. Here's something that won't surprise anyone who knows me. I love professional development and I owe a lot of that to Akua'i, the Association of College and University Housing Officers International. If you're not familiar with Akua'i, it's the global professional home for people who live and breathe campus housing. Folks who manage residence halls, respond to crises and create the feeling of home for people who live and breathe campus housing. Folks who manage residence halls, respond to crises and create the feeling of home for students around the world. Akua'i is where I found my professional voice and, maybe more importantly, the courage to use it, from my first ever national presentation at the annual conference almost 20 years ago to writing for the Talking Stick magazine, to being trusted to share my experience in front. Thank you.

Role of ACUHO-I in Housing Industry

Speaker 1 1:20

We are bringing you a special mini episode in honor of Campus Home Live, the Akua'i Annual Conference kicking off this weekend in Columbus Ohio. And for a special mini episode, we have a special guest, kathy Hopgood, who is the current president of Akua'i, and that's not even her day job. As her day job. She works as the Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Enterprises at Clemson University in South Carolina. Kathy and I sat down to talk a little bit about Akuhuai. We talked about what it really means to lead a professional association, what you learn about yourself when asking others for money, and why it's always worth talking to vendors even when you're not buying yet. So thanks for joining us and let's get started with Kathy as we go on campus and off the record, you know we're in a very, I would say, strange time. What do you see as the role of an association like Akuhoa'i, not only for the professionals in the industry, but for the industry itself? Not only for the professionals?

Speaker 2 2:26

in the industry, but for the industry itself, Well, it's certainly been. It's been a challenging year.

Speaker 1 2:32

You know, I didn't think this is what my presidential year was going to be about.

Speaker 2 2:35

Yeah, and you know when we think about, you know why do we have associations to start with Right? You know I think about those pillars, you know, that are within our mission and strategic planning, in particular the ones around community. Yep, how can we provide a place for people to come together and just be together?

Speaker 1 2:56

even if there's no answers.

Speaker 2 2:58

You know, be able to say, hey, this is happening on my campus, it's happening to you too. Oh my God, I thought it was crazy. I'm so glad to hear that I have a friend, at least. So you know there's that. There's education. How can we educate people on how they're managing their budgets? How can we educate people on, you know, how they're working with contracts, Because so many campuses are having budget issues to maximize those things Like those are, you know, true and real skills?

Speaker 2 3:23

How can we help people to understand better how to manage their occupancy? Yeah, and then one other big category I always think about is influential advocacy. How can we be both ways? How can we help housing practitioners to be around the table on their campuses, the table that they need to be at to have the influence that keeps things flowing smoothly? And then, how can we be advocates on the state and regional and national stages? We work with a number of sister associations to be able to do that. But to know what legislation is being proposed, where can we provide letters in support of or against a particular federal policy? That's really important and one of the big roles that Akua'i has been trying to play, working our way through that.

Speaker 1 4:14

If Akua'i didn't exist, how do you think our profession would be different?

Speaker 2 4:20

Our origins. You know, if you look back to, you know was campuses were growing. Campuses were growing. There was new federal money to design, build buildings. There was new student money for students to go to school, loan money that had never existed before, grants that had never existed before, yeah, which is why I don't have the dates exactly right in my head, but the college population in general doubled. You know, from 1945 to I think it's like 1961. And then from 61 to 70, then tripled, yeah, so if you think about that, that's when our association was coming into its own.

Speaker 1 5:02

Yeah, and much of our building.

Speaker 2 5:04

And much of our buildings. Yeah, Deferred maintenance anyone?

Speaker 1 5:10

We certainly don't have any of that.

Speaker 2 5:12

So, when you think about that, we, we needed each other to navigate this thing that was happening concurrently on our campuses. But absent that, there's not the support for development, there's not a body of knowledge that ties our work together. So, as professionals, I mean, maybe we would have found a home in other associations, but I don't think it would have been as purposeful or certainly as beneficial. Right Like, I remember coming and this is no dig on my ACPA and NASPA friends, but I went to my first Akuhoa in 1999. And I remember the feeling of these are my people. Yes, because I remember going and this is a young professional to ACPA and NASPA and feeling like people, were like man. Why are these wildlife people here? There's so many of them, right, but these were like all the housing people like yes, yes, and it's a different conversation, right.

Speaker 1 6:16

I mean, yes, you're still working with students and you're talking about student development and kind of different student involvement, student experience. But you know, there is something very powerful about someone who's been on call and has had the same conversation with a drunk student or a homesick student or an angry parent that you have had, because, particularly, you know, when I entered the profession, I entered it in my alma mater and so I was thinking like, am I doing this because I went to school here, so it feels comfortable, or can I do it somewhere else too? And getting involved in the profession really helped me to understand what is like we are a profession and what are those skills and it's a it's a a unique skill set. What was your first um inkling? That? Uh, that maybe president would be in your future, or an executive kind of leadership role like that?

Speaker 2 7:12

so, um, a little story about connie carson. Yeah, um, we were at a dinner a woho dinner, I'm sure? Um, in 2008, like right when I was getting off the executive board and I was considering running for another Kūhoa executive board seat, and she looked at me from like six people over down on the other side of the table and she said I hear you, kathy Hobgood, and you have not yet served your regent as its president, so don't let me hear you talk about running for national office again until you've been C-HELP president. Oh, wow, okay.

Speaker 2 7:42

And one, I respect Connie a lot, but two, I used to be a little bit afraid of her. So I was like, well, ma'am, yes, ma'am. So I worked through a couple of CEO things and ended up being CEO president and during that time for my regional. I always like to have like a regional something and a national something, so that's why my regional service was to CEO on the executive board. And then I had the opportunity to work on the foundation as a foundation regional rep and as a member of the booth committee setting up that fund, which led to I thought maybe someday I might want to be a Kūhoa'i president, but I never thought I would be the foundation chairperson.

Speaker 1 8:20

Okay. And I actually ended up doing that first, oh wow, thought I would be the foundation chairperson, Okay, and I actually ended up doing that first, oh wow. And what did you learn about?

Speaker 2 8:28

kind of about the foundation and about a co-I from, from working with the foundation as a foundation chair. Well, I learned a couple things One about the foundation, but also about myself. About the foundation, I really learned about the, the good works that we do to help us afford our aspirations, okay, like you know, and I got a much deeper understanding of where, where, where does the membership money go, where does the money from the corporate partners go? And then where does the donation money go, okay, and what the functionality is that each of those and did it give you a more confidence in the organization after seeing behind the curtain a little?

Leadership Lessons and Association Insights

Speaker 2 9:07

bit, so it gave me a couple of pieces of confidence. One I used to think I was terrible at asking people for money. Yeah, I'm going to find out. I am shameless in the name of a good cause. Always important to know, which was not something I knew about myself prior to that, which makes me a stronger fundraiser on my campus. Yes, and changes how I interact with potential Clemson donors, how I interact with any number of individuals that I meet in my executive role. Yeah, so that was so important, I think related to Kuhuai, I learned a little bit about how to navigate. We want something to happen.

Speaker 2 9:40

Let's not let money be the issue oh yeah, that's a good lesson so maybe how can the foundation offer um, as they often do the seed money for something for the first year or two of something, and then it's going to be an association initiative. It's got to come over to the operational side right and have a staff home. Yeah right, so working through those pieces really gave me a broader perspective on the association.

Speaker 1 10:05

And that's actually a really good just business lesson of you know. We say we want to start something, but then we've got to find a way to make it sustainable on a funding and operational side as well. What is the experience of being the association president been like for you, and would you do it again?

Speaker 2 10:26

I would absolutely do it again. Okay, I'm term limited, though, so don't worry, akuhai friends, you know it's really so. One of the great things about the Akuhai model is, while a number of associations have president-elect, president and past president as your term, our term is actually vice president, president-elect president and past president as your term. Our term is actually vice president, president-elect and president. So then, in your past president year, you still have a responsibility to run nominations and elections, but you're not on the executive board anymore, and it really gives you two years of onboarding to be ready, so that you don't have to figure things out as you go along, because that first year you're like which way is that? The second year, it's like okay, wait, I know some stuff. And the third year you're implementing Fantastic.

Speaker 2 11:08

It's a great model. To make that much more manageable, you also, in your presidential year, get to spend a ton of time with the exceptional Mary De Niro, who's our CEO who really you know, if we can't figure it out together, it's not going to go well but literally talk almost every day and have weekly meetings together as we figure through. What does the association need right now? What does the executive board need? It's time intensive for sure, I probably spend 10 to 15 hours a week on a KUHO. I matters oh wow.

Speaker 2 11:44

So I can figure out what I'm going to do with that time at the end of my term, so I can intentionally repurpose it before it gets absorbed by other things before you have, like other committees, campus committees and campus things.

Speaker 1 11:51

And yeah, it's an honor, though it really is. The Akuhuai conference is coming up. What, uh? What advice, as as president, would you have for first-time attendees and maybe for an attendee like myself who usually maybe presents, but this year may be going just as an attendee?

Speaker 2 12:15

I would say, to be as aggressively friendly as your personality type will allow. You know, I think you don't wait to be invited into a conversation, like as you're walking around the exhibit hall, like stop and talk to people you know, really find those connections and that time to spend with people. It's also okay to have your downtime. Conferences can be really overwhelming. I really am hopeful that people will take, you know, great opportunities to be in the. Our plenary sessions are all really wonderful.

Speaker 2 12:52

This year we also have the opportunity to hear again from Megan Gerhardt, who was with us last year doing some work on generations. That's really awesome. She's back and she's going to be doing sort of a workshoppy type of thing as opposed to sort of a typical keynote. I think I always encourage folks to to spend dedicated time with our industry partners. You know, walking through if you're buying something this year or not, it's a great opportunity to learn about what are their products, what do they do, especially when you're not looking to buy something. You know my favorite thing to do is to talk to somebody that I don't know and say I'm not buying your product this year. But when I get ready to, what are things I should look for from anybody selling that.

Speaker 1 13:34

Right, that's great advice, I think. Particularly on day, I think people struggle sometimes with the approach, but I think that's a good one. So I feel like now vendors are going to continue to hear that and be like someone must have said something somewhere.

Speaker 2 13:48

It's not cool just to feel their pen and their tchotchkes off their booth while they're talking to somebody else.

Speaker 1 13:53

That's true Also with luggage fees. I mean, where are you going to take that? I mean they brought it. You should at least talk to them, get to know them, get to know them a little bit.

Speaker 2 14:04

If you can't get out and about at the conference, stop me. I'd love to have conversations with folks you know, even just a brief conversation to introduce ourselves and chat at any time Fantastic.

Speaker 1 14:16

Kathy or I in Columbus. Make sure you say hello and if you loved hearing from Kathy, you're in luck. We've got more where that came from. So stay tuned, and if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to like, share and send it to a colleague who could use a little inspiration. So thanks for listening as we've gone on campus and off the record. See you next time.