Advisory Council
The LeadTeam Partners Advisory Council serves as a strategic sounding board, bringing together exceptional leaders to shape our community, expand school leader awareness, and foster high-impact partnerships across independent education.
Council Purpose & Strategic Priorities
Appointed for the 2026–2027 academic year, Council members lend their leadership to advance three primary goals:
School Leader Awareness: Advising on strategies that make it effortless for independent school leaders to find and connect with vetted K12 partners.
Community & Learning: Shaping peer programming, professional growth opportunities, and meaningful collaboration across our consultant network.
Membership Impact: Enhancing the value, sustainability, and long-term health of our collegial consultant community.
Meet the Council
Casper Caldarola is the Founder of Pollyanna, a national nonprofit dedicated to Building Stronger and Kinder Communities in schools. Since 2015, she has partnered with schools across the country to align mission, values, and daily practice through conferences, leadership development, curricula, and community assessments. Drawing on her experience as an alum, parent, administrator, and trustee, Casper believes meaningful change happens when entire communities engage in shared learning and collective responsibility. She previously served on the Board of Trustees at The Dalton School, SEEDs of Peace, Parents in Action NY, Generation Citizen, and held a leadership role at Allen-Stevenson. Before founding Pollyanna, she built a successful career in marketing and advertising.
Doreen Kelly, co-founder of The CREDS Group, is a Board certified Coach (BCC) with over 20 years’ experience as a nationally recognized educational leader. Doreen is certified in the use of several 360°-feedback tools, including the Delta Six Domains of Leadership Survey (SDLS) and other personal assessments to help her clients. A graduate from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English and MS. Ed. in Education where she was Captain of the Varsity Women’s volleyball team, her background includes being on the faculty for the National Association of Independent Schools – Institute for New Heads where she assisted in training and coaching for 70+ new leaders a year. As an executive coach, and a seasoned non-profit board member, Doreen is drawn to the practice of supporting leaders who are interested in becoming more self-aware, and developing strong connected teams who possess a goal to purposefully and positively impact their world.
Mike Marich is an educator, coach, and advisor with more than 15 years of experience at the intersection of independent school athletics, education, and leadership. He served as Athletic Director & Dean of Co-Curricular Programming and Head Boys’ Lacrosse Coach at The Frederick Gunn School, and has also served on the NEPSAC Executive Board and as District IV President. Prior to Frederick Gunn, Mike held human resources leadership roles at Citi, Morgan Stanley, and Deloitte. Today, Mike is the founder of Mindset Curated, partnering with schools and athletic leaders to strengthen people, culture, and programs. He is also co-host of Sideline Ascent, a podcast focused on leadership, coaching, and coach development.
Tracy Tigchelaar is the Co-Founder of House of Hats Marketing. With more than 25 years of experience, Tracy is the strategist schools lean on to connect brand and messaging, website strategy, and marketing and admissions planning into one coherent direction. She built Finalsite's marketing consulting service from the ground up, and before that she led marketing, communications, and admissions inside schools, running all three for more than a dozen years at a large multi-campus international school. She brings to the Advisory Council a clear view of both sides of the partnership schools depend on: the leader carrying the mandate, and the outside expert brought in to deliver on it.