"Thank you so much for presenting the Governance workshop this past Saturday.  The cursory review of the evaluations revealed that you were a hit!  Attendees really appreciated your straightforward and humorous presentation style.   Thank you again."  

Director, Central Region

National Association Charter School Authorizers

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  "I am writing to congratulate you and thank you for the excellent sessions that you presented at the 2007 National Charter Schools Conference (NCSC) held in April in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Of the 126 sessions presented, two of your sessions were ranked in the top 25 as highly evaluated"

Operations Manager
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools

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  Here is an excerpt from the National Association of Charter Schools Authorizers' profile on Mashea Ashton:

  "Charter school expert Brian Carpenter (National Charter Schools Institute), a presenter at NACSA’s 2006 Annual Conference, recommended it [Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan and Charles Burck] to her. 'Brian’s session was by far the best session I attended at the NACSA conference. His session was great! I was looking over my notes and just picked up the book this week.'"

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  "Brian - I can't wait to get through your latest masterpiece. If you're ever in town, would love to give you the VIP tour of our operation."

Executive Director
State Charter School Organization

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  "Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, expertise and advise with us this weekend... I plan on giving each board member a copy of your book before our next meeting, and spending the first hour discussing the seminar.

The information you provided us is invaluable, and your presentation was quite enjoyable. Thank you!"

President
Charter School Board

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  "Thank you so much for sharing your insights on charter school board development with my LEE Masters students and my colleagues who sit with me on the Deer Valley Academy charter school board. Both the LEE Fellows (who are educational entrepreneurs from across the country) and our local governing board members certainly grew professionally from your two presentations: "Five Dysfunctions of Charter School Boards" and "Let's do the Numbers: Seven Practices for Sound Fiscal Management of Charter Schools." The students especially enjoyed how you creatively combined critical facts with humorous, supportive stories. The board members also had very positive feedback. They said they felt the time with you was well-spent and the information valuable.

  I think the greatest compliment you received was one whispered to me after you left. One of my students said that after spending five hours that morning being "lectured at" in his Law class, he simply wasn't looking forward to sitting two more hours learning about boardsmanship. HOWEVER, he added that the two hours with you just flew by. He told me that there was so much relevant information presented in a user-friendly way that he couldn't believe it when the session came to an end. Pretty neat, eh!

Brian, from all of us at Arizona State University's LEE program and Deer Valley Academy Governing Board, we wish you well and hope you continue to reach out to audiences across the country. Your message is sorely needed, and you deliver it so well. Bravo!"

Eleanor Perry, Ph.D.
Founder
Leadership for Educational Entrepreneurs (LEE) Masters
Arizona State University

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  "As a result of your latest publication Charter School Board University, we've incorporated some of your ideas into our new Board Orientation Binder that we are now using. Previously, we had a very scant set of documents and now we have included copies of financial statements, a section on legal foundations, as well as copies of reports and data. Last and probably most importantly, we developed an "Articles and Resources" section that includes some of your published articles (e.g., "The Five Dysfunctions of Charter School Boards"). Great job! It's always a pleasure seeing you and working with you."

Compliance Officer/Oversight Coordinator
State Charter School Authorizer