2025 Annual Conference Learning Journey: Leadership & Governance

*Separate registration required.

Speaker: Dr. Brett Jacobsen, SAIS

This dynamic workshop is designed for heads of school and trustees to explore the Governance Health Index—a framework that defines six core competencies essential for effective, mission-aligned governance in today’s evolving educational landscape. Together, we’ll examine each competency, reflect on board and leadership roles, and use a practical self-assessment tool to evaluate your school’s current governance health. Whether you’re looking to strengthen collaboration, clarify strategic direction, or enhance accountability, this session will offer actionable insights and meaningful dialogue to help your board operate at its highest potential.

Speakers: Ellen Ives, Ensworth School, and Jennifer McGee, Ensworth School

Implement a coaching model that meets the needs of teachers and students by using research-based, high-impact practices. Collaborate with teachers and team members, listening intentionally to their classroom experiences and needs. Ask guided questions to teachers about their current practices and ideas to identify goals or areas for growth, then assist them in setting attainable goals to implement in their classrooms. Plan and provide high-impact teaching practices and strategies that benefit both students and teachers, supporting the implementation of new strategies or goals in the classroom. Observe teacher and student responses to instructional changes, collecting data alongside the teacher to inform practices. Support the teacher through the reflection process, analyzing results to refine instructional approaches. Re-evaluate goals and outcomes to establish next steps, fostering a growth mindset for both teachers and students.

Speakers: Jennifer Carrol, Fisher Phillips, and Ilanit Fischler, Fisher Phillips

This take on the legal landscape highlights the critical, evolving issues affecting independent schools today. From navigating complex employment laws to staying ahead of compliance shifts like discrimination and employee accommodations, schools must stay agile. Get ready for a look at the trends reshaping policies and learn how independent schools can stay proactive in addressing legal challenges while fostering an inclusive and compliant environment.

Speakers: Dr. Carrie Grimes, Vanderbilt University, and Dr. Michael Neel, Vanderbilt University

This workshop for school leaders brings together practical problem-solving approaches with promising practices. Using a data-informed decision-making approach, you will learn to support leaders in actual dilemmas that they are currently facing. School leaders will be invited to identify a decision that they want to work through and will be invited to explore the relevant situation through three targeted rounds of analysis and reflection. Workshop activities and facilitators will invite consideration and exploration across three analytical domains that will bring the most salient matters to the surface. When fully engaged, this deliberation workshop results not only in a fitting response to the challenge/decision, but also organizational learning that promotes greater effectiveness and ethical action over time.

Details coming soon.

Speaker: Chris Cleveland, Wesleyan School

Using a variety of storytelling techniques, historical narratives, and personal experiences, the speaker will remind and encourage over-extended and weary school leaders of what they likely already know but need to hear again. Five key principles that leaders can carry with them will be introduced and reinforced with the hope that leaders will walk away feeling inspired and reminded of their calling.

Speaker: Sheri Burkeen, SAIS, and Eric Heilman, CIRIS/Mission & Data

You asked for more relevant, actionable data—we listened. Join us to explore how Meridian delivers regional insights, including exclusive findings from our 2025 Annual Benchmarking Survey on teacher compensation. Discover SAIS’ comprehensive roadmap for delivering the meaningful data you need for informed leadership and how these resources will support your school’s operational excellence in the years ahead.

Speakers: Dr. Jeffrey Mitchell, Currey Ingram Academy, and Jennifer Dulski, Rising Team

Currey Ingram Academy has reimagined leadership development through its Growth Plan, a structured approach designed to be manageable, research-informed, and impactful. This model integrates organizational psychology, leadership science, and team development research from Who: The A Method for Hiring, Vertical Leadership Development, Atlas of the Heart, and the Rising Team platform. Over three years, Currey Ingram has successfully implemented this approach, with objective data confirming its positive impact on team engagement and leadership growth.

Attendees will learn how to create Growth Profiles using key elements such as mission clarity, outcome-based competencies, and Vertical Leadership Outcomes (VLOs). This interactive session will include a Rising Team leadership activity, offering participants first-hand experience with a science-backed tool for enhancing collaboration and trust. Attendees will leave with a Growth Profile template—an actionable resource for developing leaders and building stronger teams, and a free Rising Team kit they can use with their own teams.

Speaker: Theresa Ward, Fiery Feather

“External motivation might get you started, but only internal motivation will carry you across the finish line.” – Shane Parrish.

This workshop for leaders addresses the complexities of a multigenerational workforce that is more empowered (and distracted) than ever before. The session helps participants unlock the perks of feeling like your “own boss” without losing loyalty to their day job. Using the BADGE methodology, participants learn specific skills to handle the most stressful and draining aspects of work with renewed energy. Theresa shares best practices so both individual contributors and leaders will walk away being more attuned to their authentic passions and see a way to embrace autonomy over their professional path.

Speakers: Dr. Fabio Hurtado, Cannon School, and Dr. Kellen Graham, Episcopal Collegiate of Little Rock

School leaders are coached to “control the narrative” and to be the chief storytellers on campus. But an independent school is a collection of competing and contradictory stories, told and retold by all members of the school community. This session rethinks how stories and storytelling shape our schools. Based on recent scholarship and our own action research, we delve into these questions: how can we, as school leaders, know our schools’ many stories? How might we communicate foundational school stories with different constituent groups? How can we help others let go of old stories and embrace new ones? In what ways do stories themselves lead our schools? This session will provide insights and practical advice to boost your leadership.

Speaker: Julie Faulstich, Stony Creek Strategy

A trusting collaborative partnership is the core ingredient for successful board/head school leadership, yet traditional governance training generally focuses on “lanes” and boundaries. While a clear line between board duties and head duties is necessary, it is becoming increasingly important to promote clear communication between the board and the head as schools navigate an increasingly complex landscape and stressful challenges to sustainability. This session will discuss the often-unspoken complications of building a trusting board/head relationship and present practical approaches to promote improved connection, elevating your governance game now, and positioning the school to successfully navigate the
future.

Speaker: Brendan Hoyle, Norfolk Collegiate School

Dial in the frequency for a school culture that amplifies intrinsic motivation, trust, and innovation among faculty and staff. Learning to TUNE: Innovations in Conversation introduces a simple yet powerful framework—Trust, Understand, Nurture, and Empower—to transform meetings, collaborations, and school culture. Through fast-paced, interactive activities rooted in active listening, design thinking, and improv comedy, participants will experience firsthand how small shifts in communication can foster psychological safety, creativity, and ownership. Expect laughter, unexpected insights, and practical tools to strengthen trust, amplify faculty voice, and create an environment where people genuinely want to contribute. Walk away with strategies that inspire collaboration, unlock intrinsic motivation, and fuel a culture of continuous growth—one conversation at a time.

Speakers: Kasey Short, Charlotte Country Day School, and Warren Sepkowitz, Charlotte Country Day School

Explore strategies for giving and receiving meaningful feedback at all levels—administrators, teacher-leaders, teachers, and students. Learn how structured feedback loops, including observations, surveys, and student input, enhance professional development, strengthen relationships, and promote a culture of reflection and improvement.

Engage in discussions, analyze effective feedback models, and develop actionable plans to implement or refine feedback practices in your school. Walk away with practical tools to empower educators, motivate students, and build a transparent, growth-oriented learning environment.