Webinars

Julie McLeod, Head of School, Good Shepherd Episcopal School

Dr. Julie McLeod has 23 years of experience in education. She came to Good Shepherd as the director of technology and has been the head of school for five years.

Amanda Medina, Chief Financial and Operating Officer, Good Shepherd Episcopal School

Amanda Medina has been with Good Shepherd for six years as the controller and is beginning her first year as CFOO. She came to the independent school industry with a background in public accounting.

Janice Gregerson, Associate, Education Practice, Venable LLP

Janice Gregerson is an associate with the Education Practice at Venable LLP. She focuses her practice on employment counseling and independent school law. Gregerson represents a variety of clients, with a primary focus on independent schools. She works collaboratively with her clients, actively joining their teams to ensure she is intimately familiar with each organization's operations, mission, and environment.

Grace Lee, NBOA Legal Counsel and Partner, Education Practice, Venable LLP

Grace Lee is a partner with Venable, LLP in the Labor and Employment Practice. Lee is an independent school law attorney whose practice focuses on employment law, risk management, and other compliance and regulatory matters that impact independent schools and nonprofit organizations. Lee has extensive experience helping schools implement compliant policies and adopt preventative strategies, and she has defended schools against claims regarding employment discrimination, harassment, retaliatory discharge, and wage and hour violations before administrative agencies and federal and state courts. She previously served as NBOA's vice president, legal affairs. Lee holds a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School and a B.A. from Northwestern University.

Kathleen Brown, Sc.D., Senior Scientist, Environmental Health & Engineering Inc.

In her public health experience, Kathleen Brown has been a scientist, consultant, policy analyst and a city environmental planner. She is an elected member of the board of health for the Town of Needham, MA. Her extensive exposure assessment work includes evaluations of potentially contaminated building materials, air, soil and drinking water – and preparing health risk assessments for these exposures. Having worked in city government, Brown brings a practical understanding of financial and staffing constraints when planning implementation of environmental and public health policies. As a top analyst, she helps organizations assemble and process data to serve compliance requirements and builds in straightforward steps to complete performance reviews and annual updates.

Brittany Schwartz, Staff Scientist, Environmental Health & Engineering Inc.

In her role in the analytics division, Brittany Schwartz ‘s projects include data management, document review, literature searches and quality control. She supported the opening and operation of summer camps during the pandemic through coordination with medical experts and resource development for camp administrators. Schwartz also led bicycle programs across Boston Public Schools, with a focus on wellness and safety.

Will Wade, Principal Consultant, Environmental Health & Engineering Inc.

Will Wade leads multidisciplinary teams in the education and commercial division to solve a broad range of industrial hygiene and environmental challenges. He has extensive expertise managing assessments involving indoor environmental quality, mold, moisture, fire damage and hazardous building materials. Wade is an expert in workplace exposure assessment design, measurement strategies and data analysis. He also conducts risk assessments, develops risk communications, and leads staff training sessions. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Wade has worked extensively with independent schools and universities across the country to provide guidance documents, presentations, and ongoing support.

Tim Logan, Notosh, Strategic Design Consultant

Tim Logan is an experienced school leader and curriculum designer with a passion for connecting and facilitating global networks of innovative educators. As well as being a member of the BU Agile Innovation Lab, Logan works with the world’s top international schools as part of Notosh strategic design consultancy and produces the “ground-breaking” podcast, Future Learning Design. He has worked extensively with schools and education groups in the Middle East, Africa and Europe and designed curricula within a variety of frameworks – IB, UK, Cambridge, American, French, German. He lives in Bordeaux, France, with his wife and three children.

Jeremy Besch, Founder, Stone Bench Consulting

Jeremy Besch spent his career facilitating movement through difficult challenges and developed a talent for building creative approaches to problems both wide scale and minute. A progressive educator, servant leader and Agile problem solver, Besch is comfortable in environments hampered by obstacles and in need of change. Honest, accurate assessments, tough, direct conversations and workable approaches to the way forward are all foundational to Besch’s practice. More than two decades of leadership in schools, state-wide, regional, and local collaboratives and a master’s degree in Innovation and Change Leadership have all seasoned his ability to provide guidance and direction across complicated landscapes. Besch’s long career in crisis management, and in organizational and family support, has provided experience in building solutions to a multitude of diverse, complex problems, all while honoring the unique needs of those he serves.

Simon Holzapfel, Founder and Executive Director, Copper Beech + Company

Simon Holzapfel is a former head of school, an independent school board member, an Agile coach, and a consultant to schools. In addition to his recent and successful tenure as Head of School and President at The Darrow School, an international boarding school, Simon has served as a trustee for varied educational institutions and organizations. He has earned undergraduate and advanced degrees from Carleton College and University of Massachusetts Amherst. Simon and his family reside in Massachusetts. Whenever he is not reading, cooking, or eating, he can often be found on skis or his bike.