Rick Maloney

Rick Maloney

Rick Maloney has worked since 2006 with boards that want to govern…

  • Exploring what a board needs to be, to know, and to do, and why
  • Discovering how to develop their own governing system, and
  • Facilitating the ongoing task of governance

Since 1979 Rick has provided organization development consulting to a wide variety of organizations in the federal government, hospital/health services, universities, and the military. 

He has a combined 37 years of board experience in public and private community boards, serving several years on a property owners’ board of directors, 25 years on a local school board (9 terms as its president), and 12 years as a member of a state association board of directors. For 19 years Rick has led his own board in the exploration, adaptation, development, implementation and refinement of policy governance, a governance model that required reviewing and reconfiguring the board’s existing governance system. That long-term effort was recognized with two consecutive “board of the year” awards by its member association (unprecedented, since there are 295 such boards and at most 3 award recipients each year). More importantly, the effort enabled the district to achieve results in the long run that reflected excellence in comparison with similar districts in the state.

Rick has published two books and numerous articles on governance and delivered dozens of conference presentations on the topic at state, national, and international conferences.  Since 2006 he has assisted other boards and their CEO’s as they explored, adapted, and maintained/enhanced their own governance system. He has lectured at the university level on the board-CEO relationship as well as human resource management, the sociology of schools, and public school law.

A graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, Rick was an Army Engineer in his first career, leading multiple units of varying sizes either as a commander or in various staff capacities, including human resource management, information technology, operations, logistics, engineering, and executive officer/chief of staff (responsible for all staff functions).

Rick holds a doctorate in education from the University of Southern California, a Master of Arts in human resources management, another master’s in behavioral science, and a Bachelor of Science in applied sciences and engineering. Teaching and school administration provided the focus for his second career. Endorsed in math, physics, English, and psychology, he taught in public, private and parochial schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. He was an administrator at state and local levels in the areas of professional education, certification, professional development, and human resources management, so he was able to observe boards and board members in meetings from the perspective of a staff member.

Although he has built (and even demolished a few) bridges, climbed mountains, rappelled from helicopters, and jumped from airplanes, all-in-all he considers teaching a 28-student 8th grade pre-algebra class to be one of life’s bigger challenges.

Rick enjoys working with boards that want to govern their organizations with excellence by focusing on what boards do best, which is to represent the interests of their constituents, owners, communities, and/or membership (those to whom the board must answer) and (on their behalf) holding the organization accountable for results, while avoiding the temptation, as part-time board members, to assume the impossible task of out-managing their full-time staff. He likes helping boards answer the question “Who’s in charge?” (they are) while avoiding the self-destructive urge to do the work of the staff.

Rick’s publications include:

Books:

Articles:

  • “Who’s in Charge?” (c) April 2006, American School Board Journal
  • “Changing the Subject of Your Evaluation” (c) April 2007, The School Administrator
  • “An Agenda That Works” (c) August 2008, American School Board Journal
  • “Governance as a Profession” (c) February 2010, American School Board Journal
  • “A Partnership Raises Healthier Children” (c) April 2012, Kappan
  • “Pushing the Limits“ (c) September 2015, American School Board Journal
  • “4 Big Ideas of Governance” (c) June 2020, American School Board Journal
  • “What’s Wrong with Board Professional Development” (c) December 2020, American School Board Journal
  • “The Three-Legged Stool of Board Leadership” (c) February 2023, American School Board Journal
  • “Six (Not so) Simple Rules for School Board Success” (c) June 2023, American School Board Journal
  • “Oath of Office” (c) August 2023, American School Board Journal
  • “The ‘Care and Feeding’ of School Boards” (c) September 2023, The School Administrator
  • “The School Board as Servant-Leader” (c) February 2024, American School Board Journal
  • “Foundation of Knowledge” (c) August 2024, American School Board Journal
  • “Skills for an Effective School Board Member (nsba.org)” (c) October 2024, American School Board Journal

You can contact Rick and identify your interests/questions at rick_maloney@hotmail.com

Rick Maloney