Operations, Audit and Risk Committee Meeting February 9, 2024

The Operations, Audit and Risk Committee met on Friday, February, 9, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. in the Freeman Center, Room 202 with Acting Chair Terry McKnight presiding.

Present from the Committee

Mrs. Terry McKnight, CPA, Acting Chair
Mr. Brentley Archer
Mrs. Lindsey Carney Smith, Esq.
Ms. Kelli Purdy Meadows, CPA
Mr. C. Larry Pope
The Honorable Ronald L. Tillett

Other Board Members Present

Ms. Regina Brayboy
Mr. William Estrada, Esq.
Dr. Daniel Gade
LTC (R) Boris G. Robinson

Others Present

President William G. Kelly
Mrs. Jennifer Latour, Vice President for Finance and Planning/Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Maureen Matsen, University Counsel
Mrs. Ashleigh Andrews, Chief People Officer and Sr. Associate Vice President
Mrs. Sarah Herzog, Chief Financial Officer and Associate Vice President
Mr. Justin Davenport, Chief Information Officer
Other CNU faculty and staff members

Acting Chair McKnight called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone in attendance. She thanked everyone for being there and explained Ms. Christy Morton was not able to be in attendance because she was attending General Assembly committee meetings. She also welcomed Dr. Daniel Gade and Senate Faculty member William Donaldson.

Approval of November 16, 2023 Minutes

Acting Chair McKnight asked if everyone had a chance to review the Operations, Audit and Risk Committee minutes from November 16, 2024. There being no comments, edits or suggestions, Acting Chair McKnight called for a motion to approve the minutes as presented. The Honorable Ronald Tillet, provided the motion, which was seconded by Ms. Kelli Purdy Meadows and the minutes were approved by unanimous vote of the committee.

Acting Chair McKnight reported that the Internal Auditor, Ms. Faith Belote was not in attendance due to illness so the Internal Audit report will be saved for last. At the last meeting of the committee, Mr. Bryan Donohue, Director of Emergency Management, provided a report on our Emergency Management Plan. There was an incident on campus where our Emergency Management Plan had to be put into action and Acting Chair McKnight introduced Dr. Kevin Hughes, Vice President of Student Affairs and Mr. Bryan Donohue to provide a report on the incident.

Campus Incident Report

Dr. Kevin Hughes reported that President Kelly had asked for an after-action report on a weapons discharge incident that happened on campus during the predawn hours on November 28, 2023, that resulted in damage to the David Student Union. Dr. Hughes noted that it is still an active criminal investigation so they are limited on what they can share. Dr. Hughes reported that once the incident took place, Mr. Bryan Donohue activated our Emergency Management plan and dispatchers and Christopher Newport University Police officers responded quickly, effectively and safely. Resident Assistants provided a safe environment for students and Mr. Jim Hanchett, Chief Communications Officer handled communications well. Mr. Donohue spearheaded the report with the help of Mr. Jim Hanchett, Chief Communications Officer, Chief of Police, Mr. Dan Woloszynowski and Director of Residence Life, Scott Nonemaker. The report was intended to capture what happened, establish the timeframe of when the actions took place and determine the critical points and how they were handled to see if they match up with our policies and procedures. Based on the review, the situation was handled exceptionally well but that doesn’t mean there are some things we can do to improve which include educating the community, reminding people we have an alert system and make sure they are signed up for it. There will be small group discussions to talk about things that could be done more efficiently and what might be able to be improved in this type of situation. The findings from these small group discussions will be reported back to President Kelly. Dr. Hughes gave a brief update on the offender, as of this morning he remains in custody and will remain in custody until his hearing February 12, 2024.

Acting Chair McKnight thanked Dr. Hughes for the report and commended President Kelly for taking it one step further to call for a review of the policies and procedures and how the incident was handled. She also thanked Mr. Donohue for all of his work and the Christopher Newport University Police Department, Resident Assistants and all who were involved for a job well done. Chair McKnight introduced Ms. Ashleigh Andrews, Chief People Officer to provide the following report:

Report from the Chief People Officer

Ms. Ashleigh Andrews provided an update on the Compensation Study that began in 2022. The compensation study currently is focusing on Instructional Faculty Salaries. In 2022 the compensation study began for classified and hourly employees and 46% of staff received a pay increase from the findings of this study. In 2023, the same consultant, Gallagher was used for a compensation study for Administrative Professional Faculty and 44% received an increase. Prior to this, the last compensation study was completed in 2010. The goal of the study was to make Christopher Newport University more competitive in the market and improve retention among employees. Positions were compared to other higher education positions and also positions within the private sector. The Instructional and Faculty Salaries review is underway and we hope to have the findings of this study to incorporate any salary changes into the 2024 budget.

Acting Chair McKnight thanked Ms. Andrews for her report and said she is happy we are continuing to focus on this effort and our employees. Acting Chair McKnight introduced Mr. Justin Davenport, Chief Information Officer to provide his report.

Presentation by the Chief Information Officer

Mr. Davenport introduced his team to the committee and provided an overview on Information Technology Services at Christopher Newport University. He reported there are 33 Full time positions (2 vacant), and 11 CNU Student workers n support roles. They service 2,315 computers, 8,000 daily wi-fi devices, 1,100 phones, 12,700 active CNU accounts and 40 custom applications. In 2023 they serviced 7,801 tickets. He reviewed recent activities the team is working on, strengths of ITS, Risk Management/Cybersecurity, Service and Project Management, IT industry trends, and their goals for the future including a digital transformation.

Acting Chair McKnight thanked Mr. Davenport for his presentation and for introducing his team to the committee. She commented that the University had increased the technology fee and asked Mr. Davenport if he could talk about what those resources were used for. Mr. Davenport stated they had already used the technology fee this year to purchase security platform technology and that they will be replacing the virtualization infrastructure. He said these items would not be able to be accomplished without the technology fee and having the technology fee will be essential in modernizing Information Technology at Christopher Newport University. He thanked the Committee for helping to provide these resources. Acting Chair McKnight thanked Mr. Davenport and his team for all they do. Mrs. Lindsey Carney Smith also commended Mr. Davenport and his team for the amount of communication that goes out to faculty, staff and students and said they were doing a tremendous job with communicating.

Appointments to the Administrative and Professional Faculty (Informational Only)

Acting Chair McKnight stated that Appointments to the Administrative and Professional Faculty are informational only. Mrs. Jennifer Latour, Chief of Staff stated this is a routine report that shows employees who have been hired since the committee last met.

Internal Audit Report

Mrs. Faith Belote, Director of Internal Audit, was not present due to illness. In her absence Acting Chair McKnight presented the report. She stated that today was the last day of work for Senior Internal Auditor, Christina Russell, as she has taken a new position with Old Dominion University. This will launch her into a career path into University Compliance. We have started a search for her replacement and hope to have someone as soon as possible.

The Annual Audit plan will be monitored for possible adjustments due to the loss of this position and this will continue to be a work in progress. The Endowed Faculty/Professorship audit is complete. The initial planning for the Endowed Student Scholarship audit has begun and is expected to be complete in April. The entrance conference with the Auditor of Public Accounts took place on January 5th and the IT focus will be Risk Management, Contingency Planning and Incident Response. The Entrance Conference with the Office of the State Inspector General for the Cybersecurity Audit was held on December 13th and all higher education institutions will be evaluated as part of this engagement.

Acting Chair McKnight reported on the status of audit issues stating for the Endowed Faculty Professorships there are five open audit points targeted for completion by August 9, 2024. Two Network Firewall Audit Points have been closed, with three points targeted for completion by March 15, 2024. The Student Accounts audit is a work in progress with seven points targeted for completion by July 1, 2024 and four audit points have been extended. The StarRez audit is complete and six Faculty Recruitment and Succession Planning audit points have been closed.

Acting Chair McKnight reported on the recently completed Quality Assurance Review (QAR) report that resulted in a rating of “generally conforms,” which is the best opinion and indicates Internal Audit is doing a good job. One area identified for improvement is governance/reporting structure to be discussed at the next meeting.

Closed Session

Acting Chair McKnight asked for a motion to convene in a closed meeting under the Freedom of Information Act, as amended, Section 2.2-3711 (A)(9) Gifts, Bequests and Fundraising. The motion was made by Mr. C. Larry Pope and seconded by The Honorable Ronald L. Tillett with all in favor and the committee went into closed session at 9:49 a.m.

Return to Open Session

The committee returned to Open Session at 10:20 a.m. and Acting Chair McKnight asked Ms. Wissinger for a role call certifying that only public matters were discussed that were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was called. All committee members certified to the above by roll call: Mr. Brently Archer, Mrs. Lindsey Carney Smith, Ms. Kelli Purdy Meadows, Mr. C. Larry Pope, and the Honorable Ronald L. Tillett.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:22 a.m.