On this episode of Headspace, we’re joined by Jodi Grass, the Head of The Oak Grove School in Ojai, California. Jodi has been Head of School for seven years but has been a part of the Oak Grove Community for 17 years. Listen in as we learn more about her path to leadership, how her values align with Oak Grove’s mission, and how she has navigated big changes at a small school.  

In this episode, we’re joined by Donna Orem. Donna became president of NAIS in 2016. Before that, she served as NAIS’s chief operating officer for 11 years. But, she began at NAIS in 1998 as the vice president for educational leadership and later became the vice president for strategic initiatives and research. Now, 25 years later, Donna is heading into the next chapter in her career: retirement. Today, Donna shares her wisdom with us, along with some real talk about the progress toward gender equity of leadership in independent schools and where we can go from here.

Welcome to part two of our conversation with Meera Shah and Amy Richards from Educational Directions. We are Demystifying the Search Process for women leaders in independent schools. In this episode, we’re talking about the nuts and bolts of the process, the role of the search firm versus the search committee, what materials you’ll need to prepare, and how to navigate the process with confidence.

In this episode, we’re joined by Rebecca Taylor, Director of Human Resources at Georgetown Day School. After spending ten years as a Director of Human Resources at an independent school in North Carolina, Rebecca joined GDS in 2022 to help create a comprehensive Human Resources function. We’re going to talk about the important leadership skill of hiring as well as what to think about when applying and interviewing for new positions. We’re also asking Rebecca to share great hiring practices to help build a healthy culture to promote inclusion and retention in your schools.

In this episode, we’re joined by Meera Shah and Amy Richards from Educational Directions, a nationally recognized consulting firm for independent schools specializing in searches for heads of schools and administrators. With Meera and Amy’s help, we’ll peek behind the curtain of the independent school search process. This is a big topic, so we decided to break it into two episodes. In Part I, we’ll hear about Meera and Amy’s personal leadership stories. We’ll also discuss how to be intentional about career planning and what these search consultants wish candidates knew before, during, and after the process.

In this episode, Lynne and I are sharing our thoughts on the 2023 State of the Independent School Enrollment Industry Report, also known as the SOTI. 

We talked about three areas highlighted in the SOTI and their impact on women: 

1. What do enrollment leaders need to be successful?

2. What is the career journey for today's enrollment professional?

3. Real talk about the gender gap for men and women admission directors.

This report is the Enrollment Management Association's (EMA) flagship research project providing a snapshot of the enrollment management industry about every three years. The 2023 update is EMA's fourth edition of the report. EMA members can view the full report and access the SOTI Data Dashboard at enrolllment.org in the Member Community. 

This episode is part of a new series we're calling Headspace, where we interview Women Heads across independent schools. Our first Headspace guest is Anne Stavney, Head of School at the Blake School in Minneapolis, MN, where she has served as their Head since 2012. We discussed Anne's history with independent schools, the key to her success as a leader with many priorities, and how she has been a champion for women leaders in her role as Head. 

In this episode, we’re joined by Heather Hoerle, Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer of The Enrollment Management Association. Heather became EMA’s executive director in 2011. Working with the leadership team, she sets a clear direction for the staff, inspiring gold-standard service for our constituents and pushing for us to continuously innovate. Externally, in her work with schools and the wider education sector, she aims to advance the profession of enrollment management and empower individual professionals. We’re going to talk about Heather’s career, her steadfast support of women in leadership, and the ways she’s innovating at EMA.

In this episode, we’re joined by Penny Abrahams, Senior Consultant with Independent School Management. Penny first joined ISM in 2010 as a member of the Advancement Academy’s founding faculty. As a Senior Consultant, she specializes in marketing communications, enrollment management, and development. Her experience in these areas comes from working in private-independent schools and other non-profits for more than 20 years. 

Being a strong leader means knowing when to consider working with an outside organization to help you achieve your goals. Penny shares with us how she supports schools, their advancement teams, and women leaders in order to maximize their impact. 

In this episode, we are talking with Susanne Carpenter, Founder and Principal of Carpenter Leadership Consulting, a firm focused on strategy, organizational development, and leadership performance for independent schools. She is also the proud graduate of an independent school, an independent school trustee, and a champion for these schools. Susanne knows first-hand how education has been disrupted in the last couple of years. Her goal is to help align independent school leaders' vision with goals and to build the best schools possible. Leadership needs support as they transition into this new era.