Who We Are

LESLIE BELLAS Board of Trustees Chair 2016-2020

ACS BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The responsibility of the ACS Board of Trustees is to ensure the longterm viability of the school through fiscal responsibility and strategic planning by working in partnership with our Superintendent to ensure that ACS serves the needs of its faculty, staff and parent communities and fulfills its mission. Each ACS trustee is a highlyskilled, impartial and dedicated advocate for our school that is honored to serve.

TRUSTEES

Leslie Bellas, Chair Matt Ayoub ‘94, Vice Chair Philippe El Bacha, Treasurer Christine Belanger, Secretary Salem Al Noaimi Omar Asfour ‘96 Scott Bolz, US Embassy Rep Damon Hewlin Eric Hilgendorf Jodi Lefort Adib Mattar ‘95 Muhannad Qubbaj

MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIR

FAREWELL & THANK YOU

2019-2020 provided ACS with the opportunity to demonstrate resilience, compassion, courage, and commitment to its core values. The Board began the school year implementing our 5-year strategic plan but pivoted to face the pandemic’s challenges. The leadership team and teachers worked tirelessly to assure our students continued academic, social, and emotional growth and well-being. Thanks to Monique’s decisive leadership and our staff’s strength, the Board was able to carry out its vision for ACS’s future. Our community adapted to the new reality, providing support, patience, and appreciation to one another. We are proud this experience strengthened our bonds, deepened our gratitude, and increased resolve as ACS moves forward with clarity, aspiration, and purpose.

Throughout the year, the Board forged ahead with its 2019-20 strategic priorities. Together we:

■ Ensured board effectiveness, leadership, and sustainability by amending governance documents to better align with international school best practices.

■ Approved the detailed design for our new state-of-the-art campus on

Saadiyat Island.

■ Reviewed action items and identified financial resources necessary to implement the ACS strategic plan successfully.

We are thrilled the detailed design phase of our new campus is complete. We appreciate the time devoted by the leadership team, staff, parents, and students to review design plans and offer suggestions to this visionary project. Our new campus would not be possible without the Abu Dhabi government’s extraordinary support, and we continue to be grateful for this unique relationship that spans our nearly 50 years. The innovative campus design will transform ACS for future generations. Moreover, finalizing the design while supporting the implementation of the 5-year strategic plan allowed the Board to assure the availability of facilities and financial resources needed to fulfill our strategic vision. COVID-19 upended lives, plans, and expectations. Delivering the best educational experience to students amid a global pandemic required close Board-Administration collaboration. Prudent financial planning and effective cost management enabled ACS to immediately transition to online education and secure necessary technical resources so our teachers could adapt to and enhance the delivery of their curricula. We are delighted ACS endured the worst of the pandemic without staff or salary cuts during this school year. Looking to an uncertain year ahead, the Board and Monique made wise financial decisions to maintain quality without raising tuition and maintaining economic sustainability.

The most gratifying pandemic experience was the community’s expression of concern for others. Although the UAE and Abu Dhabi successfully weathered the pandemic’s financial disruption, some in our community experienced financial hardship. We authorized the creation of an ACS Compassion Fund to help families experiencing sudden and significant changes to their financial situations to help them remain part of our ACS community. The generous charitable contributions to the ACS Excellence Fund helped ACS meet the unexpected challenges of this global crisis.

The 2019-2020 school year is my last as a Board member. I was honored and privileged to serve as Board Chair since 2016 and a trustee for nearly a decade. I will transition away from the Board by serving as an honorary trustee. ACS will continue to hold a special place in my heart and will remain in excellent hands under the new leadership of Matt Ayoub ‘94, Board Chair for 2020-21.

As I reflect on this unprecedented year, I am very impressed by our ACS community’s resilience and empathy in the face of such adversity. I express my most profound admiration to our students, parents, faculty, and staff for your courageous spirit. ACS will carry its deep history on a fantastic journey that assures a bright future.