About ABHE Leadership Development

Growing leaders are hungry learners. To empower our leaders, every year ABHE offers an enriched slate of professional development conferences especially designed for leaders across biblical higher education. These include specific conferences for each C-Suite position, along with conferences focused on vital areas of institutional competency. Most of these are 1½ day events offered for either on-site face-to-face or virtual engagement. Several 1-day conferences are designed for virtual only participation.

Each conference features a number of well-crafted presentations followed by Q & A. These also expand your professional network with other leaders who share similar responsibilities and calling. For all conferences, you’ll leave with a Personal Action Plan to focus your attention for post-conference follow-up.

Thanks to the generous support of event sponsors, these conferences are provided at a modest registration fee in appreciation for your service to biblical higher education. All conferences are open to members of ABHE and beyond.

Training & Certification

Personal growth is more than just an aspiration. It commends a purpose and plan. In this behalf, professional development training offered through conferences and the Annual Meeting is organized through a carefully crafted curriculum to provide a breadth of training for every C-Suite position in an institution. Leaders are invited to enroll in the Executive Certification Program that tracks their engagement and results in an ABHE Executive Leadership Certification. As part of the program, participants develop their own Professional Development Plan which is reviewed by their supervisor and reflects professional development goals. Engagement in the various training events can normally result in certification within three years.

Delta Epsilon Chi Honor Society

The development of student leaders is embedded in the DNA of every ABHE institution. In salute of this discipleship ministry, we join with our institutions in providing an opportunity to nominate members to join the Delta Epsilon Chi Honor Society. This legacy recognition is for graduating students and veteran alumni who have demonstrated christian character, leadership ability and academic achievement. See the linked web page for criteria and complete details.

This is a member benefit for all ABHE institutions with beautiful certificates sent to institutions based on their nominations. Recognition awards are also available for honor society recipients.

Training opportunities

The chief governing body of every institution is the board of trustees. This team of leaders bears the ultimate fiduciary responsibility for the institution, keeping the programs and leaders of the institution aligned with the fulfillment of the mission.

ABHE offers a regular series of events for institutional trustees, either 1-day virtual only conferences for a full track of workshops during the Annual Meeting. Led by veteran presidents and board coaches, these provide outstanding training for board chairs, presidents, and trustees. With a curriculum based on the Five Essentials of Board Excellence, participants will grasp their roles and responsibilities, know the key performance indicators vital for institutional oversight, sharpen their engagement in strategic planning and enrich their partnership with the president. This training is supplemented with a library of board training videos and opportunities for engagement with board coaches for individual board training.