The Trustee Table

In this episode, Reveta Bowers, interim head of The Early Childhood Center in Los Angeles, shares her insights on how boards can engage and communicate with their communities around critical issues facing independent schools, as well as specific examples of effective board engagement opportunities from her own leadership experience. Reveta served as the Head of School of The Center for Early Education in Los Angeles for 40 years before retiring in 2016. Prior to her retirement, for fifteen consecutive summers, she was a Lead Faculty Member at the National Association of Independent Schools’ Institute for New Heads, where she taught more than 700 NAIS Heads of School. Upon her retirement from The Center, Reveta began coaching institutional leaders and consulting with for-profits organizations, colleges, school boards, and non-profits on issues of governance and governance best practices. She returned to The Center on July 1, 2020 as Interim Head of School while the school searches for its next leader. Reveta has served and continues to serve on a number of boards. She was an outside director of The Walt Disney Company from 1993-2003. She has served as Board Chair of The California Association of Independent Schools, The Educational Records Bureau, and The California Community Foundation. She also served on the Klingenstein Center Advisory Board at Teachers College, the Board of Trustees of Teachers College, on the board of the Coalition for Justice, and as treasurer of The National Association of Independent Schools. She continues as Chair of the Board of Councilors of the Rossier Graduate School of Education at USC, and also on the boards of The Stepping Stones Fund, The Fedco Foundation, and The EE Ford Foundation. She attended the University of Southern California, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Humanities, earned a master’s degree in Developmental Psychology, as well as three life teaching credentials.

In this episode, Kevin MacNeil, Vice-President of Metric Marketing, shares his insights on admissions and enrollment challenges facing independent schools today, how schools can best leverage their advertising dollars, and ways schools can keep both prospective and current families engaged. Metric Marketing is a strategic, digitally driven agency that helps independent schools build loyalty and grow enrollment in an increasingly connected world. Kevin brings over ten years of experience in advertising, analytics and digital marketing. His specialty in helping independent schools grow enrollment has been honed working with private schools across North America for the bulk of his career. Kevin prides himself on teaching modern digital advertising from a business perspective, not a completely technical one. Recently, he has partnered with Edwards Company and Connor And Associates. Success for Kevin means helping marketing teams, admissions teams, heads of school and boards make effective decisions based on data. He is a Business Commerce graduate from the University from Manitoba.

In this episode, Dr. Robert Evans and Dr. Michael Thompson, authors of the new NAIS book Hopes and Fears -- Working with Today’s Independent School Parents, discuss the power dynamics between parents, teachers, and school leaders, the role of the board in parent relations, and how parent board members can serve more effectively. Rob is a psychologist and school consultant. A former high school and preschool teacher and a former child and family therapist, he has consulted to more than 1,700 schools, including 700 NAIS schools. He served for nearly 40 years as executive director of the Human Relations Service, a nonprofit mental health agency in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Rob’s interests are in leadership, helping schools manage change, improving adult relationships within schools, and crisis intervention. Michael is a clinical psychologist, author, and school consultant. He has worked in schools for 50 years, starting out as a middle school teacher and later training as a counselor and psychologist. Now the supervising psychologist for the Belmont Hill School (MA), he has worked with more than 700 schools in the U.S., Asia, Africa, Europe, and Central America. In addition, he served as the longtime facilitator for the NAIS Institute for New Heads and later for the Academy of International School Heads. He has also served on the board of the American Camp Association.

In this episode, Dr. Eleonora Bartoli, a licensed psychologist specializing in trauma, resilience-building, and multicultural/social justice counseling, examines what it means to be a trauma-informed school, how the notion of resiliency has shifted during the pandemic, and why school leaders must make their own health and well-being a priority. Dr. Bartoli is also a consultant supporting individuals and institutions implement their diversity, equity, and social justice missions. She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology: Human Development/Mental Health Research from the University of Chicago in 2001. Throughout her career, Dr. Bartoli has held leadership positions in professional organizations at both the state and national levels. She has presented at numerous conferences and is the author of a number of publications focused on multicultural counseling competence, white racial socialization, and the integration of social justice principles in evidence-based counseling practices. In all her work, Dr. Bartoli integrates an understanding of brain functioning and neuroscience, focusing on how it informs symptom development as well as healing and resilience-building strategies.

In this timely episode, Heather Hoerle, executive director and chief executive officer of The Enrollment Management Association, shares her observations on how the pandemic has impacted independent school enrollment trends and what disruptors heads and boards should anticipate in the future. A thought leader in enrollment management, Heather personally led the charge for the professionalization of the admission and enrollment professional, demanding that industry colleagues mobilize to re-position the work of enrollment management as both strategic and foundational to institutional success. Heather’s career began in independent schools as an administrator, student advisor, and teacher then embarked on a successful 23-year tenure in leadership roles with The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) and eventually serving as a vice president at The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).

In this episode, Lisa Kay Solomon from Stanford University’s Institute for Design, explains her role as a futurist, shares why developing a futurist mentality is critical for heads and trustees to support their school communities, and how independent school boards can design and engage in strategic conversations. Lisa is a well-known thought leader in design innovation with a focus on helping leaders learn how to be more creative, flexible and resilient in the face of constant change. Lisa is the founding Chair of Transformational Practices and Leadership at Singularity University. She coauthored the Wall Street Journal bestseller, Moments of Impact: How to Design Strategic Conversations that Accelerate Change, and more recently, Design a Better Business: New Tools, Skills and Mindset for Strategy and Innovation. Lisa is a frequent keynote speaker on innovation, design thinking and leadership at global conferences and business schools. A passionate educator, Lisa is a “Designer in Residence” at Stanford University’s Institute for Design and has taught at the revolutionary Design MBA program at California College of the Arts.