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Members of the Riverstone community,
I am writing to update you on our search for a new head of school. Since Bob Carignan announced his departure in October, our search committee has been hard at work initiating the process of identifying and hiring a worthy successor to lead Riverstone.
After careful consideration and due diligence, the committee has engaged the services of Coreen Hester and Roger Bass of Resource Group 175 - a highly experienced, accomplished education recruitment firm - to help us attract a compelling pool of candidates and guide us through a successful search.
This appointment was the culmination of thorough research, interviews with multiple education search firms and methodical reference checks.
The committee chose RG175 based on its strong ties to the international community and deep presence in the western United States. Coreen and Roger - both past independent school heads in their own right as well as seasoned recruitment professionals - bring to our search over 60 years of collective experience in the education space. For more information about their firm, visit
www.rg175.com. Coreen and Roger's bios are included below.
The process that the search committee and RG175 team will undertake will be systematic, professional and inclusive. One critical element of that process will be to develop a comprehensive position profile that captures the essence of Riverstone and identifies the qualifications we desire in our next head of school. RG175 will publicize and actively seek candidates - both internal and external - based on this position profile.
To that end, Coreen and Roger will visit Riverstone in the new year, from Wednesday, January 10 through Friday, January 12. During that time, the team will meet with parents, staff, faculty, administrators, trustees and students to familiarize them with the search process and gather feedback. The goal is for all members of the Riverstone community to have the opportunity to offer their input on the essence of our school and the opportunity before us.
Two parent forums will be held on Thursday, January 11: a morning session (time and location to be announced) and an evening session at 6:30 PM in the Elementary School atrium.
We encourage everyone to participate in this important exercise. If you are unable to make either of these sessions, there will also be an opportunity to share your thoughts via an online survey that will be distributed during the campus visit.
As I've stated before, the board and committee are dedicated to open, regular communications with the Riverstone community throughout the search process. For that purpose, we have created a dedicated web page
to serve as a repository for information about the search and updates as they become available. In addition, we will continue to communicate with you via email, as well as the Riverstone newsletter.
I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at January's forums.
Sincerely,
Mark Liebich
Chairman, Board of Trustees
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Coreen Hester
Our team lead, Coreen Hester, was an independent school head for 20 years - ten at the American School in London and ten at The Hamlin School in San Francisco. Prior to that, Coreen served as a high school principal in London, assistant head at The Branson School, and a college counselor, dean, and English teacher in Michigan and northern California. Before joining RG175, Coreen established the west coast office of the recruitment firm Independent Educational Services, managing teacher and administrative recruitment, as well as placement services in California and nationally. She has been a trustee of several independent schools and is currently a board member of the Academy of International School Heads. She also recently served on the board of the Educational Collaborative for International Schools in London.
Roger Bass
Coreen will be assisted by Roger Bass, who has led more than 40 successful searches and been active in the educational community for 30 years - serving as an independent school head, board member and consultant. Roger founded the University Prep school in Seattle, where he was head of school for 25 years.
He has served on the boards of Catlin Gabel School, Annie Wright School and Cornish College of the Arts, where he acted as vice chair and chair of the presidential search, trustee and governance committees. He was national treasurer of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), president of the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools (PNAIS) and chair of the Superintendent's Advisory Committee on Private Education.
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Please join me in supporting our Search Committee representatives:
- Juan Carlos Duque, Committee Chair
- Linda Clark-Santos, Board of Trustees representative
- Stephanie Hanson, Board of Trustees representative
- Tom Mahoney, Board of Trustees representative
- Heather Schulze, Board of Trustees representative
- Trevor Lindsay, Faculty representative
- Jon Moreno-Ramirez, Faculty representative
- Heather Dermott, Parent representative
- Holly Ponath, Parent representative
- Israel Catz, Alumni representative
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