Lead the Way: Cultivating Thoughtful and Effective Supervision in Schools
Join us in San Francisco for a one-day summit co-hosted by Lick-Wilmerding High School and 12M & Ed Tech Recruiting. We’re bringing together senior administrators, HR professionals, new managers, and aspiring leaders to reflect, share frameworks, ask questions, and exchange ideas in sessions focused on practical strategies such as performance management, transitioning from peer to supervisor, and fostering healthy management cultures in independent schools.
WHAT
A one-day conversation sharing successes, challenges, creative ideas, and new opportunities for developing, improving, and supporting a culture of managing people in schools
HOW
Registration is now open! Click here to register.
Early Bird cost - $25 (through Sep 22)
Regular cost - $49 from Sep 23 onward
LOGISTICS
Hosted on-site at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco
Tuesday, November 4, 2025
9 AM to 3:15 PST
A detailed schedule will be released closer to the event. Lunch will be provided to all attendees.
SPEAKERS
| Tanveer Alibhai, Head of Lower School Black Pine Circle School |
| Jennifer Liu, Director of Teacher Development & Strategic Initiatives Town School for Boys |
| Liz Pulido, Director of HR and Employee Relations Lick-Wilmerding High School |
| Lauren Railey, Assistant Head of School for Academics Drew School |
| Kelly Sortino, Head of School Crystal Springs Upland School |
| Roxanne Stansbury, Head of School The Alexander Dawson School |
WHY
Schools are facing so many existential challenges right now, it's sometimes disheartening to make a list. Declining birth rates, a fractured political climate, teacher shortages, skyrocketing costs, outside scrutiny, and more. All that said, those are all for the most part external threats. In other words, there's not much school leaders can do about things that are out of their control.
If I had to identify the biggest internal threat to schools right now, it would be the lack of managerial readiness. I don't mean the need to hire more staff and administrators. Rather, I mean the ability to put new school people in charge of other school people. This is a fundamental problem that compounds when you consider that good managers can help others respond and adjust to those aforementioned external threats.
I see this problem firsthand during the hiring process. This year alone, multiple search teams have passed on highly talented candidates simply and solely because they flat out don't have enough years of supervisory experience, or because their managerial style is incompatible with being a senior administrator. Nevertheless, I describe this problem as internal because it is one that other school leaders can address and mitigate.
Our team is acutely focused on this issue, and not simply by trying to help our clients hire better. For the last several years, we have been developing white papers, leading workshops, moderating panel discussions, and much more.
This fall, we're going to take another step, by partnering with Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco to organize a summit on November 4 to discuss essential topics related to management in schools. We want to bring together senior administrators overseeing teams, HR professionals, new managers, and most importantly future and aspiring managers — to reflect, share frameworks, ask questions, and exchange ideas. The goal of this summit is not to think so broadly about the "talent pipeline," but rather more pointedly about the "management pipeline," the culture of management, and essential principles of good management of people in schools.