LeadTeam Summit
August 12-13, 2026
Bullis School | Potomac, MD
A new school year is coming.
Your head start happens here.
“As long-time independent school professionals, Chris Pryor and his team put together events that are tailored to the needs of private school leaders; they know what is needed and what will be a good use of time. I greedily protect the last days of summer, but I believe that the LeadTeam Summit and School Leaders Day will be well worth attending. I commend them to you, and look forward to seeing you at Bullis!”
- Christian Sullivan, Head of School, Bullis School
For School Leaders: Launch with Intention
Thursday, August 13 | 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
August can feel like a blur of reaction. Instead of just managing the rush, spend a day getting the focus, tools, and connections you need to lead the year ahead with clarity. The LeadTeam Summit brings together experts who specialize in independent schools — covering enrollment, governance, academics, operations, and more — to help you hit the ground running for 2026–27.
Built for action. Every session is focused on your real priorities for the year ahead — not theories that sound good but don't translate.
Bring your whole team. Pricing is designed for groups, because moving forward together starts with getting focused together.
Connect with peers. Spend time with other Heads and Directors who are facing the same opportunities and challenges you are.
School Leader Day - August 13
Schedule at a Glance
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Developing a Strategy for Culture that Works
Speaker: Jason Craige Harris, Senior Advisor, Pollyanna
In an era of increasing polarization, social complexity, and institutional strain, many schools have invested significant energy in refining their academic programs and strengthening their financial and enrollment strategies. Far fewer, however, have developed an intentional, coherent cultural strategy—one that names how a school cultivates its values, forms ethical citizens, and creates the relational conditions necessary for learning to thrive. Too often, “culture” is treated as implicit rather than designed, reactive rather than proactive, or narrowly framed as synonymous with DEI rather than inclusive of it. When culture is under-theorized or fragmented, schools are left without a shared compass for navigating conflict, uncertainty, identity-based tensions, and moments of moral decision-making.This keynote invites school leaders to examine culture as a strategic domain in its own right—one that deserves the same rigor, intentionality, and stewardship as academics and finance. Drawing on research, storytelling, and practical insights , participants will explore how cultural strategy can clarify institutional values, support ethical formation, strengthen belonging and dignity, and integrate DEI within a broader vision of community life.
Participants Will Leave Able To:
Articulate why a cultural strategy is a distinct and essential pillar of school leadership, alongside academic excellence and financial sustainability
Differentiate between culture and DEI, understanding how DEI fits within—but does not replace—a broader cultural vision
Identify gaps between a school’s stated values and lived experience, using concrete examples and scenarios from school life
Develop key insights and questions to designing or strengthening a coherent, values-driven cultural strategy in their own context
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Choose from one of seven morning learning sessions spanning a variety of strategic and operational areas. See the full list of sessions below.
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Grab a boxed lunch and connect with fellow school leaders and industry experts.
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Choose from one of seven afternoon learning sessions spanning a variety of strategic and operational areas. See the full list of sessions below.
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Join us for wrap-up and a send-off from LeadTeam.
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Join us for an optional tour of Bullis’ new Lower School building.
Keynote Speaker
Jason Craige Harris, Senior Advisor, Pollyanna
Developing a Strategy for Culture That Works
Featured speaker at NAIS Thrive 2026
Morning Sessions*
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Tesha McCord Poe, J.D./M.B.A., Founder & CEO
Joy-Raising
Independent and international schools depend on philanthropy to advance their missions, yet fundraising is too often approached as transactional work—focused on the largest check from the wealthiest, most established donors, with development happening behind closed doors. The result can be a narrow donor base, missed relationships, and work that feels depleting rather than energizing. This session reframes advancement as inclusive, community-centered practice: widening the aperture to value every donor at every capacity, treating giving as partnership and belonging rather than charity, and aligning a school's fundraising goals with its belonging objectives so the two reinforce each other.Drawing on the Joy-Raising approach and the presenter's experience as an advancement leader, this session equips participants with practical tools for designing equitable fundraising practices—removing barriers around language, economic anxiety, cultural disconnection, and historical distrust without lowering standards. Participants will explore strategies for cultivating diverse donor partnerships, including the volunteer-to-donor pathway, and will sharpen their skills through a guided donor-conversation role-play and debrief that surfaces common pitfalls such as failing to name the ask clearly or talking past the moment of silence. The session closes with principles for staying authentic and leading with joy. Each participant will leave with a personalized action plan to advance inclusion, schedule a donor conversation they have been avoiding, and bring more joy to their fundraising. When schools approach philanthropy this way, they build broader participation, deeper relationships, and greater long-term impact.
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Maggie Renken, Consultant
Independent School Management
Artificial Intelligence is not a tech trend; it is an arrival technology calling for a strategic shift that impacts every facet of independent school stability, from mission delivery and financial sustainability to pedagogy and community trust. This immersive masterclass is designed specifically for Heads of School to move beyond the hype of AI and engage in deep, foreword-gazing work that keeps humans and the enduring practices for "doing school" at the center.By combining a futurist approach with a whole-school, multidimensional AI Readiness Framework, this session will equip leaders with the foresight and confidence to navigate uncertainty and the insight to build a concrete, mission-aligned action plan. Action plans will be designed with anticipated and existing tensions at the forefront, so regardless of tech expertise, leaders leave ready to lead with cautious courage and patient urgency.
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Thom Greenlaw, Founder/Principal
Creative IndependentsThis session explores how independent schools must develop compensation models that attract, retain, and reward exceptional educators. The session examines current compensation trends, equity and transparency considerations, the current legal landscape, and strategies for aligning pay structures within each school’s mission, market position, and long-term sustainability.
The session also offers an opportunity for collaboration and idea-sharing among Heads and senior leaders seeking to strengthen their compensation practices. Various methods of faculty compensation will be explored including step systems, bands and pay for performance.
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Tom Sheppard, Founder & Principal
20 More StudentsIndependent schools are operating in a rapidly shifting landscape shaped by demographic change, family price sensitivity, competition, policy volatility, and evolving perceptions of value. Yet too often, these external forces are discussed episodically, or delegated to enrollment leaders, rather than examined systematically at the board and senior leadership level. This master class challenges school heads, trustees, and senior leaders to confront a fundamental reality: enrollment revenue is the primary mechanism through which schools absorb, adapt to, or are destabilized by these forces. Drawing on principles of strategic enrollment management (SEM) and real-world case work, the session makes the case that the most sustainable schools of the future will explicitly connect external trends to enrollment revenue, and treat that connection as a central strategic and governance responsibility.
Using a facilitated, exercise-driven format inspired by a recent year-long strategic engagement between 20 More Students and a partner school, participants will work through structured frameworks designed to surface risks, opportunities, and trade-offs. Leaders will assess which external forces they must anticipate versus those they may be able to shape; examine how these forces intersect with enrollment demand, pricing, program decisions, and financial models; and stress-test plausible enrollment futures for their own institutions. The session moves beyond diagnosis to integration, helping heads and boards explore what changes when academics, finance, enrollment, advancement, and communications are intentionally aligned around sustainability. Designed as a strategic laboratory rather than a tactical workshop, the master class equips governance leaders with shared language, sharper questions, and practical tools for navigating uncertainty, positioning enrollment revenue as a collective leadership challenge in an increasingly complex environment.
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Jennifer Danish, Head of School
Grace Episcopal Day School
Ross Wehner, Founder
World Leadership School + K12 Change Lab
Beneath the technical skills required of a school leader (finance, HR, curriculum, etc.) lie deeper adaptive skills, such as purpose, resilience, calm, and openness to new perspectives. How can leaders cultivate these human skills? This workshop applies the theory and science of purpose to help leaders deepen their awareness of and connection to why they lead. We start with the premise that each leader has unique gifts and contributions, and we will help each participant gain greater clarity about why they choose to lead.We will engage in a series of activities to support leaders in diving into joy, story, insight, and self-discovery. Through Calling Cards, we will explore our natural gifts. Through Golden Thread, we will clarify our impact on the communities we serve. With Purpose Mapping, we will establish daily practices and other support structures centered around our purpose statement to live more purpose-driven lives. This Purpose Map serves as an action plan for leaders who want to cultivate a stronger adaptive core.
Five years of constant disruption have pushed many school leaders into survival mode so deep that we have become disconnected from ourselves and our “why” for working in schools. This experiential session helps leaders connect with themselves and each other—and reflect on how to bring their authentic selves to what lies ahead.
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Doreen Kelly, Co-Founder & CEO
The CREDS Group
Independent schools are rich with values—and with that comes tension. Leaders are constantly navigating competing priorities: tradition and innovation, excellence and wellbeing, authority and collaboration.This session introduces leaders to the core principles of Polarity Management, developed by Barry Johnson, and applies them directly to the realities of school leadership.
Participants will learn to recognize that many of their toughest challenges are not problems to solve, but ongoing tensions to manage with intention and skill.
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Pete Upham, Founder & President
Peter Upham Consulting, LLCStrategic Planning is ubiquitous. Strategy is rare. Independent schools devote considerable time and resources to constructing strategic plans. While the process itself has a number of benefits-- clarifying mission, identifying educational needs, and generating community-wide enthusiasm for a particular vision of the future-- actual business strategy is typically ignored-- or treated as a purely technical implementation that must be completed once the plan is in place.
Actual strategy is about clearly defining an audience and understanding their needs, interests, and expectations. It involves systematically researching the marketplace and developing a nuanced understanding of the alternatives or substitutes (read: competition). And it’s about deliberately establishing a specific and coherent position in that marketplace. Strategy-making touches upon promotion, pricing, place, and yes, in a qualified sense, even program (what’s on offer) and people (staffing). While leaders must always respect an institution’s mission, values, and culture, they must also guide the “business” of school with high skill and nuance. In an age of deteriorating demographics and elevated institutional competition, this mandate has never been more forceful. Attend to hear an overview applying classic business strategy concepts to the independent school model—and engage in robust conversation about what it means to be a genuinely strategic leader.
Afternoon Sessions*
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Sarah Dugan, Founder
Teach, Learn, ThriveAs a school leader, you wear many hats. Yet, the "instructional leader" hat remains one of the most critical and challenging, especially when balancing the necessity of supervision with the desire to empower faculty. We will explore how to maximize the impact of your limited time with faculty by using specific coaching mindsets and skills that foster teacher agency and reduce dependency on administrative problem-solving.
This session directly addresses the tension between the "boss" role and the "coach" role. Leaders will learn to navigate the critical distinction between Coaching (building capacity) and Consulting (providing solutions), gaining clarity on when to strategically deploy each mode. Through practical scenarios and a live coaching demonstration, we will share tools such as high-impact questions and neutrality techniques—that turn brief hallway interactions or office meetings into opportunities for professional growth. You will leave better equipped to hold space for teacher expertise while maintaining the high standards and accountability your role requires.
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Dick Ewing, Leadership & Team Coach | Governance Advisor
RTE Global
Independent and international school boards are under growing pressure to make high-quality decisions quickly, navigate increasing stakeholder complexity, and provide strategic leadership, not just oversight. Yet even highly committed trustees can find themselves operating as a collection of individuals rather than as a cohesive governance team. This Masterclass reframes governance as teamwork: helping boards move beyond compliance to build trust, shared purpose, and a disciplined approach to working together in service of the mission.
Drawing on systemic team coaching, classic research on what makes ‘real teams’ effective, and the presenter’s experience as a head of school and board advisor, this session will provide participants with practical tools for strengthening board culture and performance. The session features discussion-based governance case vignettes that surface typical board tensions; a simple Ten-Point Board Check-Up; a Board Charter exercise that clarifies what trustees need from each other; and a basic framework for clarifying purpose, expectations, and results over time. The emphasis is on helping boards become more intentional, generative, and resilient as teams. When boards function as real teams, they make better decisions, support their heads of school more effectively, and create greater long-term impact. -
Garet Libbey, Leadership Coach & Consultant
Garet Libbey ConsultingAs leaders step into the start of a new school year, they are immediately called on to show up - in opening meetings, high-stakes conversations, community-facing moments, and daily interactions that set the tone for culture and professionalism. The term “executive presence” is often used to describe these moments, yet it is frequently ill-defined and can unintentionally reinforce bias toward certain communication styles, identities, and norms. In this session, we name that tension directly and reframe presence not as performance or personality, but as alignment between who you are, how you lead, and what others experience. This interactive master class explores leadership presence as both an internal and external practice - one that can be understood, developed, and intentionally strengthened.
Through reflection, discussion, and applied tools, participants will identify their own gifts and challenges related to presence, and will leave better prepared to model clarity, care, and professionalism as they establish expectations, relationships, and culture at the outset of the school year.
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Laurie Ehrlich, Co-Founder & Marketing Strategist
Thrive HiveSmall class sizes, rigorous academics, warm community…have you recently used one or more of these features to promote your school?
Given the sheer amount of noise and everyday stressors that overtake the attention of donors and parents everywhere, your messaging, and accompanying marketing and communications, must be succinct, yet information-rich, and differentiated, yet flexible enough for your target audience(s).
In this session we will address:
Capturing usable feedback from current parents, alumni, faculty, donors, students, and other constituencies
Clarifying features vs. benefits, and amplifying the latter
Identifying value propositions for various school audiences while maintaining a consistent overall message
Creating short- and long-form content that captures the essence of your school and prompts constituents to take an action
Compiling an integrated and sustainable marketing plan where all channels work in concert
Leave with an understanding of how your school is actually different from the one down the street...and why parents should care.
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J.P. Watson, Senior Managing Director
Mike Vachow, Senior Managing Director
The Gowan GroupInstitutional Alignment—The Secret Sauce for Strategic Success is an experience-rich masterclass designed for private school leaders seeking strategic clarity, cohesion, and momentum. Guided by The Gowan Group’s consultants, participants will move step-by-step through a comprehensive, integrated approach to institutional strategy—beginning with deep institutional research and extending through mission review and revision, strategic planning, and intentional implementation strategies. The session demonstrates how disciplined research and intentional listening create the foundation for informed decision-making, priority setting, and long-term sustainability.
Participants will explore how aligned institutions translate vision into action through clear strategic priorities, defined initiatives, and executable action plans that include timelines, accountability, and financial implications. The masterclass emphasizes the power and leverage of alignment across mission, enrollment, fundraising, finances, and marketing—showing how schools that operate from a shared framework move from reactive survival to proactive thriving. Through practical tools, examples, and frameworks, leaders will learn how to unify their community around a compelling institutional narrative and a shared path forward.
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Brooke Carroll, Consultant
Acies StrategiesWe all know that leading a school is stressful. The multitude of demands on a leader’s time, cognitive load, and emotional bandwidth is immense.
Most people can handle their stress over time by employing various coping and self-care strategies.
However, for some, these strategies lose their efficacy, and stress expands into something much bigger: Burnout.Burnout is a result of extended stress due to a variety of factors. “If the stress feels never-ending and comes with feelings of emptiness, apathy, and hopelessness, it may be indicative of burnout,” (Psychology Today).
Burnout can result in mental and physical health challenges, a lack of motivation, withdrawal, and other negative responses. Therefore, it is important to manage burnout- preferably before it becomes acute.
There are several practices that school leaders can take when they are on the road to burnout; the first is to recognize that they are experiencing more than just typical work stress.
In this workshop, we will discuss how to distinguish stress from burnout and strategies for managing both. Participants will be invited to engage in specific stress-reducing activities, and there will be opportunities for participants to share their own successes and strategies.
We will discuss how school leaders can monitor the stress levels of their employees and help to mitigate burnout in others. Participants will leave with ideas and practices they can implement immediately to help manage their work and avoid burnout.
*schedule may be subject to change
For Consultants: Professional Learning
& Industry Connections
Wednesday & Thursday, August 12-13
Spend two full days dedicated to refining your practice and growing your network. Wednesday is a full day of professional learning designed for you. Thursday is your chance to build connections with school leaders and learn the latest industry insights.
Professional Learning (Wednesday). A full day dedicated to the "business" side of your practice and what’s actually changing in the industry.
Industry Connections (Thursday). Connect directly with school leaders and directors who are actively looking for the kind of expertise you offer.
All Meals and Onsite Transportation Included. Your registration covers breakfast and lunch both days, plus our hosted community dinner on Wednesday evening. Transportation between the hotel and offsite venues is provided both days for hotel guests.
The Venue
Event Venue: Both days of The LeadTeam Summit will be hosted on the beautiful Bullis School campus in Potomac, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.
Accommodations:
Embassy Suites by Hilton
6711 Democracy Blvd.
Bethesda, MD 20817
Reserve Your Room
The room block includes complimentary breakfast, a two-drink evening reception, high speed Wi-Fi, and discounted parking.
Consultant Day - Featured Speakers
Jennifer Mulchandani Founder & CEO,
Arlington Strategy
As the Founder + CEO of Arlington Strategy, a boutique full service marketing agency established in 2012, Jennifer has developed full-funnel marketing strategies to help clients attract, nurture, and convert audiences for nonprofit and small business clients in the education, food & beverage, home services, and health & wellness industries.
This session focuses on how to build an integrated content and lead nurture strategy. Thought leadership meets business development with targeted content and a system to deploy it across your marketing channels.
Richard K. Bynum
Former EVP & Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer, PNC
Richard K. Bynum is the former chief corporate responsibility officer for The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., and a member of its Executive Committee. In this role, he led the PNC Foundation; Community Affairs; Responsible Business Strategies; and Community Development Banking.
Bynum, recognized as one of Washington, D.C.’s, most influential business leaders by the Washington Business Journal, serves on the boards of numerous non-profit and civic organizations.
Lindsey Davis Stover
President & Founder,
1953 Tequila
As the founder of a premium luxury brand and a principal at a strategic consulting firm, Lindsey knows the reality of building credibility in a crowded market. This session is a focused look at the strategies behind differentiation, growth, and distribution—and the grit required to break through industry barriers.
Consultants’
Schedule at a Glance
August 12-13
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Main Schedule:
9:30 a.m.: Welcome from LeadTeam Partners
10:00 a.m.: Keynote Speaker: Jennifer Mulchandani
11:30 a.m.: Roundtables
12:15 p.m.: Lunch
1:00 p.m.: Panel Discussion
1:45 p.m.: Keynote Speaker: Richard Bynum
3:00 p.m.: Keynote Speaker: Lindsey Davis Stover
Afternoon & Evening:
4:30 p.m.: Relax at hotel
6:30 p.m.: Consultant Dinner at Not Your Average Joe’s
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Main Schedule:
9:30 a.m.: Welcome from LeadTeam Partners
9:45 a.m.: Keynote Speaker: Jason Craige Harris
11:00 a.m.: Morning Learning Sessions
12:30 p.m.: Lunch
1:30 p.m.: Afternoon Learning Sessions
3:15 p.m.: Closing Session with LeadTeam Partners
3:30 pm: Optional Tour of Bullis’ new Lower School building
What the K12 Independent School Community is Saying About The LeadTeam Summit
“Our industry is unique and often nuanced, so it was incredible to connect with like-minded businesses that truly understand independent schools, how they operate, and how we can grow our businesses together.”
— 2025 Attendee, Consultant“It was a lovely gathering of school leaders sharing ideas, resources, and camaraderie. The keynote was fascinating, the networking was excellent, and the atmosphere was truly inspiring. LeadTeam knows how to bring the right people together—I’ll be back in 2026.”
— 2025 Attendee, School Leader“By creating a unique opportunity for different constituents to be in one place, The Summit provides an efficient and worthwhile experience for professionals from wide backgrounds and expertise to collaborate and share together.”
— 2025 Attendee, Consultant