Higher Education Networking Collective (HENC), Inc.

HENC Co-Hosted Event

The Next Chapter

A Conference for Higher Ed Professionals Navigating Institutional Change and Personal Transition

November 4–5, 2026  |  The Saint Hotel, New Orleans, LA

About the Conference

You didn’t choose the never-ending CHANGE.
But you DO get to CHOOSE what comes next.

Higher education is in the middle of one of the most significant periods of change in its history. Budgets are shifting. Roles are disappearing, merging, and being reinvented. The institutions that many of us dedicated our careers to look different than they did five years ago — and they will look different again five years from now.

The Next Chapter is a conference built for the people living through that reality — the people in the middle of it figuring out what to hold on to, what to let go of, and what to start building.

“What is changing around you right now that you did not choose?”

That’s the question we start with. And it opens up something most professional conferences never make room for: an honest conversation about what institutional change actually feels like — and what it takes to lead, adapt, and move forward with intention.

Who This Is For

You belong in this room.

🎓

Faculty & Staff

Navigating change at your institution — questioning what your role looks like now and what it could become.

🏛

Administrators & Leaders

Driving transformation from within — carrying the weight of change while living through it personally.

🧭

Builders & Explorers

Already building something new — a consulting practice, a nonprofit, a side venture, or still figuring out what that is.

You don’t need to have it figured out. You just need to be willing to start the conversation.

Location

We are coming to New Orleans. 🎵

Venue

The Saint Hotel

931 Canal St, New Orleans, LA 70112

Get Directions →

Day 1 — Nov 4

Pre-Conference: VIP Leadership Workshop + Opening Plenary

Day 2 — Nov 5

Full Conference & Networking Event — open to all attendees

New Orleans is more than a backdrop — it’s a city that knows something about reinvention. We couldn’t think of a better place to talk about what comes next.

What to Expect

Two days of work that matters.

Day 1 opens with the VIP Leadership Experience — an intensive, facilitated workshop for up to 30 leaders driving institutional change. Day 2 is the full conference: plenary sessions, breakout tracks, peer working sessions, and 1:1 consultation with coaches. Every session is designed so you leave with something concrete.

Entrepreneurial Track

Surface, develop, and pressure-test what you’re building.

A new program, a consulting practice, a nonprofit, a role you want to create rather than wait for.

Institutional Track

Lead change without losing people along the way.

Frameworks for driving change, communicating through disruption, and breaking down silos.

Day 1 — VIP Leadership Experience

Built for leaders who are driving change and living through it at the same time.

The VIP Leadership Experience is an intensive workshop and discussion built around the most pressing pain points in higher education today. Using best practices in implementation management and the AIM framework, sessions examine the gap between change that is installed and change that is actually implemented — and the specific conditions that determine which one you get. The work covers sponsorship, resistance, reinforcement, and change saturation, all applied directly to the initiatives participants are leading right now.

The day also makes room for something rarely named at conferences: leaders are targets of change too. Reactions to change follow predictable patterns — and leaders are not exempt from them. A leader who can recognize those patterns in themselves reads them far more accurately in their people, and stops mistaking a normal response to change for a personnel problem. And because no change happens in isolation — every initiative lands on people who are already absorbing other changes, at work and at home — leaders who see that full context make better decisions about pace, sequence, and support.

And the conversation doesn’t end when the day does. Reinforcement is what makes change stick — so we practice what we teach. Participants continue the work through You Are HigherED and ATTECS: ongoing accountability sessions, community forums, and a peer network that stays connected long after New Orleans.

Limited to 30 participants. → Register to secure your spot

Conference Schedule

See what’s in store. If viewing on a mobile device, please view in landscape to see all of Day 2.

Day 1 — Wednesday, November 4  |  VIP Leadership Experience

8:30 AM
Arrival & Coffee
9:00 AM
Warm Welcome & Icebreaker
A short, on-your-feet activity to open the day, get the room energized, and start putting faces to names before we begin.
9:30 AM
Change Is Collective. Transition Is Personal.
A facilitated conversation that opens with a disarming question: “What is changing around you right now that you did not choose?” Change arrives all at once — but transition, the internal work of adjusting to it, is something each of us moves through alone. For leaders, that’s the double bind: you’re asked to drive change while living through it yourself.
10:20 AM
Coffee Break
10:40 AM
Whatever Happened to That Big Rollout?
Every institution has them: the initiative launched with real energy that quietly faded, the system everyone was trained on but no one fully uses. This session digs into why change so often gets installed but never truly takes hold — and the gap between rolling something out and actually changing how people work.
11:30 AM
Change Starts at the Top — or It Doesn’t
Change doesn’t succeed because it’s announced. It succeeds when the people at the top visibly commit to it and keep showing up for it. This session looks at what real, active leadership backing looks like, what it costs when it’s missing, and why it so often decides whether change lives or dies.
12:20 PM
Lunch
1:00 PM
Why “We Told Them and Trained Them” Isn’t Enough
When change stalls, the usual response is more communication and more training — as if people just didn’t get the memo. But resistance is rarely about not understanding. This session looks at what pushback is really telling you, and why lasting change depends on reinforcement that gets people to work differently and keep working differently.
2:00 PM
What Would You Build If You Had To?
Change has a way of surfacing capabilities we didn’t know we’d need. This session opens space for honest reflection — on where you are, what’s shifting around you, and what you actually want from your next chapter. The entrepreneurial mindset isn’t reserved for a certain type of person or a specific role. It’s already in you.
3:30 PM
Coffee & Networking Break
3:50 PM
Put It on the Table
Chances are you walked in with a problem you haven’t cracked. In this closing session, you’ll put it on the table and let your peers in on it. Working in small groups, you’ll lay out what you’re wrestling with while the people around you offer angles, poke at your assumptions, and share what actually worked. Because a problem that feels impossible on your own has a way of loosening the second you say it out loud.
5:00 PM
Dinner & Evening Reception

Day 2 — Thursday, November 5  |  Full Conference

8:30 AM
Arrival & Coffee
9:00 AM
Welcome & Opening
10:00 AM
Breakout Sessions — Choose Your Track
Institutional Track
Communicating Through Disruption
Change announcements in higher education too often arrive late, vague, or from the wrong messenger. This session examines what effective change communication actually requires and how leaders can say hard things in ways that move people forward.
Entrepreneurial Track
When It’s Time for What’s Next
Everything you’ve built in higher education — leading people, navigating impossible systems, doing more with less — doesn’t expire when you leave. This session takes apart the belief that your skills only count inside the academy.
11:00 AM
Breakout Sessions — Choose Your Track
Institutional Track
Beyond Networking: Building Relationships That Break Down Silos
This session reframes networking as something more intentional — building the kinds of relationships that make your work easier, your institution more connected, and your impact larger.
Entrepreneurial Track
From Idea to Initiative — What Are You Building?
This is where things get concrete. You’ll begin to surface and name the idea that’s been forming — and leave with something real enough to name out loud and carry into the work that follows.
12:00 PM
Lunch
Themed table conversations by interest area — entrepreneurship, career transition, institutional innovation, consulting.
1:00 PM
Breakout Sessions — Choose Your Track
Institutional Track
Keeping Good People When You Can’t Promise Them Anything
For anyone who supervises people and has had to lead a team through uncertainty. What actually keeps people connected to their work when formal rewards aren’t available — and what you can do right now.
Entrepreneurial Track
The Questions You’re Afraid to Ask
How do you fund it? When is it safe to leave? What if it doesn’t work? An open panel with people who’ve built things of their own — answering your real questions honestly, not the tidy version.
2:00 PM
Beyond the Job Description: Owning Your Brand When Everything Else Is Changing
Your professional brand is the one thing that belongs completely to you. This working session explores what it means to build an identity that travels — beyond your current title, beyond your organization, and into the spaces where you actually want to go.
3:30 PM
End of Formal Program
3:45 PM
1:1 Consultations
Scheduled consultation slots with coaches available throughout the afternoon.
5:00 PM
Happy Hour at Double Club
Close out the conference the New Orleans way.
Co-Hosted By

Two organizations. One mission.

Higher Education Networking Collective

Founded by Dr. Alex Fronduto

HENC is an independent 501(c)(3) that brings together professionals from across institutions and functional areas to tackle the real challenges facing higher ed today. Our mission: break down silos across higher education, one conversation at a time.

higheredcollective.org →

You Are HigherED!

Founded by Ella Epshteyn, EdD

You Are HigherED!

You Are HigherED! is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to empowering current, transitioning, and “recovering” educators, academics, and administrators to achieve their fullest potential through professional development, mentorship, and entrepreneurship support.

youarehighered.org →

The Next Chapter is the first major collaboration between these two organizations — and the beginning of something larger.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

Organizations making The Next Chapter possible

ATTE Center
RALM3
Peacock Hill Consulting

Interested in sponsoring The Next Chapter? Contact us to learn more.

Your next chapter starts here.

Join a room full of higher education professionals who are ready to lead, adapt, and build what comes next. Registration is handled through our partners at You Are HigherED!

Register Now