General Session Keynote
Wednesday, March 18
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Mary F.T. Spilde
Director, Executive Leadership Institute, League for Innovation in the Community College
Keynote Address
Information Coming Soon
League Awards Celebration
After her keynote address, Spilde will lead a special tribute to 2024-2025 Innovation of the Year Award and 2025-2026 Excellence Award recipients. Recipients wear their lapel pins or medallions to this session in order to receive a copy of the League Awards Program, in which they are featured. At this celebration, all recipients are invited to stand with a colleague or fellow audience member to have their pins/medallions donned. It is a brief but very moving ceremony you won’t want to miss!
Biography
Dr. Mary Spilde served as President of Lane Community College for 16 years. She was named President Emerita upon her retirement from the college in June 2017. She was named Lane’s sixth president in 2001, after serving six years in two vice president roles. Before Lane, she held a variety of leadership positions at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon, for 15 years. She has a bachelor's degree in business and social systems and a law degree from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and a master's degree in adult education and a doctorate in postsecondary education from Oregon State University. Spilde is a frequent presenter and author.
Spilde is a nationally respected authority on community colleges, workforce development, leadership, and sustainability with 37 years of experience in higher education. She has served on influential committees and boards at the national level, including as Chair of the Board of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and board member of the American Association of Colleges and Universities and the League for Innovation in the Community College. She has also served on numerous nonprofit and corporate boards and received many national and state awards.
Spilde continues to design and deliver leadership and organizational development programs. She directs the League’s Executive Leadership Institute and consults with colleges and nonprofits to develop emotionally intelligent and results-oriented organizations. Spilde designed and facilitates an Executive Leadership Academy for the Oregon Community College Association to improve the pipeline of future leaders. She is also a Leadership Coach for Achieving the Dream. Spilde facilitates board retreats focused on board/president relationships and onboarding new presidents/CEOs and the AACC New President/CEO Academy. She is a Certified Leadership Coach working with senior leaders throughout the country.
