Editor's Note: "Voices on the Board" is a series of interviews with the ̽»¨Â¥ Board of Directors. Get to know the volunteer professionals who are elected by our membership to oversee the mission of ̽»¨Â¥. Voting Members: Don't forget to vote in this year's ̽»¨Â¥ Elections.
By Elissa Thoman, Associate Director for Registration and Enrollment, Tippie College of Business, University of Iowa
Beth Warner has dedicated her career to the University of Wisconsin, with roles at Marinette, Green Bay, Milwaukee, and now Madison, where she serves as Interim University Registrar.
She’s been a longtime leader in —serving as President, committee chair, and conference planner—and she values most the connections and learning built within that community. Nationally, she’s contributed to ̽»¨Â¥ in many ways, from podcasts to Hill Day advocacy, and now serves on the ̽»¨Â¥ Board of Directors as Vice President for Records and Academic Services.
At the core of Warner’s work is a deep belief in the transformative power of higher education and a commitment to making processes clear, efficient, and equitable for all students.
Strategic Leadership and Board Service
Elissa Thoman: What does your role as Vice President for Records and Academic Services involve?
Beth Warner: I think one of the things that is really important to stress about the ̽»¨Â¥ Board globally is that we are all charged with collaborating with one another and with the ̽»¨Â¥ professional staff to shape the association's strategic direction.
I certainly have a portfolio—it centers on academic records, registration, grading, transfer credits, transcripts, FERPA-related compliance, etc. But just as our work intersects in lots of different ways, it’s impossible for each of our portfolios to stand alone completely. We have our swim lanes, sure, but we’re sharing the water in the entire pool, right? So, while we are representing those areas, we're also trying to think more broadly about the association's strategic direction and making sure we're moving in spaces that will maintain the health of the association and represent and advocate for our profession more broadly.
While my advocacy is more centered on the topic areas of the Records and Academic Services Vice President, I'm also trying to look beyond that and support the ̽»¨Â¥ strategy more globally. And of course, we also then support the incredibly busy and engaged professional activity committees, PAC leadership, and other resources at ̽»¨Â¥, so that members have the tools, training, and advocacy that they need from the board.
Personal and Professional Motivation
Thoman: What inspired you to serve on the ̽»¨Â¥ Board of Directors, and what does this role mean to you personally and professionally?
Warner: Yeah, we've talked about this a little bit before, Elissa. I think we share a deep belief in the power of our professional communities and the ability of those communities to transform not only our individual careers but also our institutional perspectives, right? And that's something that, being in a leadership role of an association and an organization that has been so central to my own professional growth, I really looked at it as a capstone to my career. I've been in the admission and registrar profession for a very long time now, and if this is my capstone work, then I wanted to be able to give back at the national level to something that has been so central to my own professional and personal growth.
The personal benefit for me—part of it—is just, “Oh my gosh, I'm here, right?” If you had told 40-year-old Beth Warner she was going to be able to serve on the ̽»¨Â¥ Board of Directors, I would have thought you were crazy. So, it means I'm so honored and humbled to be a part of such passionate, mission-driven leadership. Personally, it's just really rewarding to be around people who feel as passionately as I do about higher education, about the profession we represent, and the underpinning of the academy we do as enrollment professionals, admissions officers, and registrars.
And then, to tie that back into professional value, it's just a chance to influence the future of our field, to advocate for our members, who are a very diverse set of individuals and institutions, and then also be a part of ensuring our voice is heard in national conversations.
The Role of Regional Associations
Thoman: You've been active in WACRAO since 2006. How did those early experiences prepare you for national leadership?
Warner: In many ways, my involvement in WACRAO helped me understand that I was not working a job; I was working in a career. That it was a profession, right? So, WACRAO is my foundation. They're my heart, they're my home. And when I was a young professional in WACRAO, there was a group of leaders—formal and informal—that set a tone for WACRAO that inspired me to want to grow up to be them, right? To realize I wanted to be that competent and that confident and that aware of the issues that intersect and impact our profession, and not just the work that I was performing in my current role. So, that was foundational.
WACRAO has given me many opportunities over the years to engage in collaborative leadership, and especially learning to work across institutions that have shared challenges yet maintain very distinct identities—from our technical college colleagues to our Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, to the University of Wisconsin System institutions. So, the breadth of institutions that are represented in WACRAO was central to informing my holistic knowledge of higher education.
Clearly, it gives hands-on experience in terms of program planning, governance, and membership engagement, and that is, I think, really important knowledge to have. But it also, well, it introduced me to ̽»¨Â¥. When I joined WACRAO, I had no idea that it was part of a national organization. I think it might have even been a couple of years before I really understood, “Oh, there are opportunities to go beyond the state level.” And building my network of trusted people, trusted colleagues, helped me become more aware of the broader need for advocacy across the nation, and again, expanded my knowledge of the diversity of institutions and individuals represented by our association.
And then, people in WACRAO and UMACRAO, my state and regional colleagues—there are so many people who encouraged me and saw me in a larger leadership role at the ̽»¨Â¥ level even before I did, right? In my first committee at ̽»¨Â¥, I was encouraged to apply by a former UW-Green Bay colleague. And I didn't think I should or could do that, but I did it, and then that was my on-ramp to more involvement at the national level.
The other thing I want to say about WACRAO, because I think the organization works really hard to hear its members, is the value of listening before acting and trying to represent diverse perspectives that benefit the greater good—and not necessarily the local need. That was something that I learned in WACRAO as well.
Behind the Scenes of Board Work
Thoman: What's something about the Board's work that you think members don't often see or understand?
Warner: I think one of the things many of our members don't understand is that the Board's charge really is to think globally and strategically about the long-term health and sustainability of our association [̽»¨Â¥], but also about higher education, and how we position our members and our association to help them overcome challenges, and be prepared for the evolution that has to happen in order for us to be a sustainable and valuable contributor to society going forward. And we need to identify pathways that are available, again, to varying institutions and with very different resources, very different missions, very different academic outcomes.
So, thinking more about strategic alignment. We’re not just approving budgets or programs or thinking about—and I don't mean "just," because those things are very important—but it's also about positioning the association and higher education enrollment professionals, registrars, and admissions officers for the future. And the collaboration that is necessary to achieve that strategic alignment is really crucial, and it's been a very steep learning curve for me, to be honest.
The other thing that I will say is, I think the ̽»¨Â¥ staff are the unsung heroes of our association. As board members, we get to witness the competence—the brilliance, really— it's not an overstatement to say the brilliance of the professional ̽»¨Â¥ team, who we are fortunate enough to be leading our association and managing the day-to-day operations and executing the strategic direction of our association. It has been really powerful to witness it through closer interactions with the ̽»¨Â¥ team, and we are so lucky as an association and as members to have them working on our behalf every day. They make sure our profession is advanced, advocated for, and that they are engaging across lots of different industries and with other associations to think about how higher education is represented and advocated for. We're just incredibly lucky there.
I have so much trust and regard for the professionalism that the ̽»¨Â¥ staff bring to their roles. As volunteer board members, we would never have the association we do and the health and viability of this association if we were dependent on a volunteer board, right? But the luxury of having these incredibly talented, competent, wicked smart professionals advocating for our association, leading our association—it's just been very illuminating for me.
Advice for Aspiring Women Leaders
Thoman: What advice would you give to women aspiring to leadership roles in higher education?
Warner: There are a few things I’ll focus on here. The first is something that’s mostly within our control: be intentional about building a trusted network. Identify mentors, peers, and colleagues who will advocate for you, but more importantly, who will push you to advocate for yourself. Find your safe space. And by safe, those people you can go to and say, “Oh gosh, I'm struggling with this,” and they won’t just comfort you. They’ll say, “Wow, Elissa, this is a tough situation you're in, but what are you going to do to change it?” That trusted network is critical.
Being really clear about what your personal values are and keeping them at the forefront to guide your decisions and interactions with people, especially in challenging circumstances, is paramount. One of the things that took me too long to get to, but I really believe in, is authenticity. It took me a long time to get comfortable being authentically myself, but I cannot tell you how much better I think I am at engaging in the world since I decided, “I’m going to step forth authentically as myself.” Not without being conscious of how you impact and engage with others, but being authentic and vulnerable. If I had recognized those values and let them guide my decisions earlier in my career, I probably would have found a lot more peace sooner. So, I think striving to identify that about yourself is important.
Finally, you cannot wait until you're 100% ready before you step up—before you step forward. Growth comes from stretching. And if we wait until we check off every single required qualification before we do anything, we’re always going to tell ourselves we’re not ready. We are ready before we know we’re ready. You have to step forward to demonstrate you're ready. Sometimes you have to take that risk. And even when you're not ready, that doesn't mean you can't do it. You just have to get through the discomfort, and that will bring growth with it as well. And then, tied into that: claiming your seat at the table—contributing your perspective. Telling yourself over and over again, “I belong here. What I bring to this table is valuable. I will contribute my voice when I have opportunities to do so, but I will also create those opportunities, for myself and for others.”
Final Thoughts
Warner’s interview is a testament to the power of professional community, strategic vision, and personal authenticity. Her journey from regional involvement to national leadership offers inspiration and practical wisdom for anyone seeking to make a meaningful impact in higher education.