NACUBO President John Walda joins the roundtable this week to share reflections on the NACUBO Annual Meeting 2014 in Seattle and the role of the conference in defining and supporting business officers in their work. In part one of our conversation, we discuss the impact of higher education on the country as reflected by speaker Bill Gates, and the role of the business officer as it continues to expand in institutions in our country. NACUBO continues to move the conversation around strategic communication forward and John and Howard both reflect on the necessity of clear and strategic communication to both internal and external audiences in maximizing the value in higher education programs.