A. Kaynor noted that this is a joint, concurrent meeting of the XLMA and Friends of Excel Finance Committees, and that members of the XLRI Finance Committee and the Chair of the Friends Board are present as well, for informational and collaborative purposes, and all are welcome and encouraged to participate in the discussion. A. Solomon presented finance slides detailing updates and progress since last year's Joint Finance Committee meetings.

No members of the public provided comment.

A. Solomon summarized the goals of the joint Finance Committee today as follows:

• Refresh on FY24 Joint FC outputs and goals
• Discuss sustainability goals, parameters on CMO “backstop” role
• Understand major risks, mitigation strategies, inter-entity impacts
• Confirm directional consensus on FY26-27 financial strategy
• Clarify plan for debt strategy for XLMA/Friends
• Reaffirm plan for Joint FC deliverables from FY24 

A. Solomon, A. Stelson, and A. Kaynor refreshed the group on the roles and responsibilities and set of deliverables that were discussed at the last joint Finance Committee meeting.

A. Solomon and A. Stelson presented updates on sustainability goals, backstops, the organization's multi-year financial strategy and risks, debt strategy, and budget planning next steps, as outlined in detail in the finance update slides and 5-year financial goals memo that were provided to the Board members.

D. Cass asked a clarifying question about the timeframe for reaching long-term sustainability in each region, which A. Solomon clarified.

D. Sachs asked a clarifying question about proportional risk levels relative to cash balances, which A. Solomon clarified. 

T. Chambers asked a clarifying question about potential changes in spending that we could implement if financial risks come to fruition in the future, which A. Solomon clarified. At a high level, we would seek to mitigate the impact on our students and the school's academic program as much as possible.

D. Stolow asked a clarifying question about how management is thinking about staff inclusion in future budget decisions as we move into a tighter economic environment, and – given our strong intent to stay unified across our entities – what steps are we taking to ensure that incentives are structured to help maintain alignment.

T. Weller provided additional perspective based on how other sectors typically manage balancing situations like this.

D. Stolow, D. Cass, T. Chambers, and C. Hang asked additional clarifying questions about the backstop concept and structure, and the group discussed potential ways to add more explicit guidelines.

D. Stolow asked the same set of materials reviewed by the Finance Committee today, including the summary memo, be shared with the full Board at the next meeting, as this discussion covered an important set of topics for the full Board to be aware of.

D. Stolow thanked the staff for preparing such an excellent and clear set of materials to facilitate the meeting.

List of documents presented at the meeting:

• Finance Update Slides
• 5-Year Financial Goals Memo
• Prior meeting minutes
• Meeting agenda