IndySchool Consultancy

10/14/2026

IndySchool Consultancy is looking forward to connecting with independent school leaders at the Association of Colorado Independent Schools Heads Retreat in Vail, CO on October 15–17, 2026.

These gatherings are always a valuable opportunity to reconnect with colleagues, build new relationships, and learn more about the leadership opportunities and challenges schools are navigating.

If you will be attending, we would welcome the opportunity to connect and talk about leadership, search, and the future of independent schools.

10/13/2026

If you know a senior administrator is planning to step down in the summer of 2027, the best time to begin the search is this fall.

It sounds early. It isn't. A thorough search runs four to six months of active work — and that clock only starts once the school is genuinely ready. Search readiness itself takes time: aligning on where the school is headed, defining what kind of leader can take it there, and building consensus before a single candidate is contacted.

Schools that begin in the fall of 2026 for a July 2027 start give themselves the one thing you can't buy later: the strongest possible pool. The best candidates plan their moves a year ahead. Reach them late and you're choosing from who's left.

Starting early isn't over-planning. It's the difference between leading the search and chasing it.

Senior Admin transition on the horizon for 2027? Let's start the conversation now — no pressure, just a plan.--- https://bit.ly/4h3QaeM

10/09/2026

Search Announcement – Chief Financial & Operations Officer!

Polytechnic School in Pasadena, CA, is pleased to announce a search for its next Chief Financial & Operations Officer, an important leadership position supporting the school’s financial stewardship, operations, and long-term sustainability. The search is being conducted in partnership with IndySchool Consultancy.

Why Polytechnic School?

✔️ Founded in 1907, Polytechnic School was the first nonprofit, independent school in Southern California. More than a century later, Poly remains an ambitious and forward-thinking K–12 community.

✔️ Poly’s mission is centered on developing each student’s unique intellect, talents, and character within a community committed to academic excellence, personal responsibility, and service to others.

✔️ Students learn across Lower, Middle, and Upper School, with an educational experience that encourages students to become joyful intellects, courageous leaders, and globally minded citizens.

✔️ Beyond academics, Poly offers extensive opportunities in the visual and performing arts, athletics, outdoor education, student initiatives, and community engagement, contributing to a rich K–12 experience.

The Opportunity

🔹 Financial Leadership & Stewardship
🔹 Strategic Planning & Resource Management
🔹 School Operations & Infrastructure
🔹 Long-Term Financial & Operational Sustainability
🔹 Partnership with School Leadership and the Board
🔹 Advancing Poly’s Mission and Future

The Chief Financial & Operations Officer will help lead the financial and operational functions that support Polytechnic School’s mission, ensuring that the school’s resources, systems, and operations are thoughtfully managed for the benefit of its students and community.

Start Date: July 2027

The search is being led by Tim Viands and Brad Bates of IndySchool Consultancy.

Full Opportunity Statement: https://tinyurl.com/27h6rwsc

Apply Here: https://tinyurl.com/5ynkur2u

10/07/2026

🎉 Search Announcement – Director of Admission and Enrollment!

Saint John’s Preparatory School in Collegeville, MN, is seeking its next Director of
Admission and Enrollment to provide strategic leadership for the school’s admission,
enrollment, and financial aid efforts.

Why Saint John’s Preparatory School?

✔️ Founded in 1857, Saint John’s Prep is a Catholic/Benedictine, coeducational day and boarding college-preparatory school serving students in grades 6–12, with boarding options beginning in ninth grade.
✔️ Located on approximately 3,000 acres of woods and lakes alongside Saint John’s
University, the school offers a distinctive educational environment rooted in community, curiosity, leadership, service, and personal growth.
✔️ Prep welcomes a globally minded student body, enrolling students each year from 10–15 countries, four to six states, and more than two dozen Minnesota communities.
✔️ With approximately 275 students today, the school has an ambitious goal of growing enrollment to more than 300 students in grades 6–12 over the next five years.

The Opportunity

👉 Strategic Admission & Enrollment Leadership
👉 Recruitment, Enrollment & Retention
👉 Day & Boarding Student Enrollment
👉 Enrollment & Financial Aid Strategy
👉 Building a Diverse and Dynamic Student Body
👉 Partnership with the Head of School & Executive Leadership Team

The Director of Admission and Enrollment will serve as the school's lead enrollment officer, reporting directly to the Head of School and serving on the executive leadership team. This leader will help shape the school's enrollment strategy while strengthening relationships with prospective students and families and supporting the continued growth of the Prep community.

📍 Collegeville, Minnesota
📅 Permanent Start Date: July 2027
⚡ Interim Start Date: Immediate

The search is being conducted by IndySchool Consultancy, with Kim Cooper serving as the consultant.

Full Opportunity Statement: https://bit.ly/4j9DBzE

Apply – Permanent: https://tinyurl.com/49r6r7ak
Apply – Interim: https://tinyurl.com/2tseyt4k

10/07/2026

"We did not feel like one client among many."

Six words that explain most of what we've built.

"After working with larger firms in the past, I found ISC's approach refreshingly focused. We did not feel like one client among many. The attention, responsiveness, and quality of counsel were significantly better than what we had experienced before."

Responsiveness sounds like a small thing until you're inside a live search.

A strong candidate goes quiet for four days and nobody can tell you why. A trustee raises a concern the night before the finalist visit. A confidential situation at the candidate's current school changes the timeline. In those moments, the difference between a partner who answers and a partner who circles back Tuesday is measured in outcomes, not in service ratings.

Search moves at the speed of the slowest person in the loop. We built ISC so that person is never us.

Schedule a search consultation → https://bit.ly/4h3QaeM

10/05/2026

We're delighted to announce that Phillip Dunbridge has been placed as Interim Director of Enrollment Management at St. George's Episcopal School for the 2026–27 school year, where he will lead the school's enrollment management office.

Phillip brings more than 15 years of independent-school enrollment leadership and a strong track record of growth. Most recently, he served as Director of Admissions at Plymouth State University. Phillip's independent school experience includes Rivermont Collegiate, where as Associate Head of School and Director of Admissions, he grew enrollment by more than 35% across preschool through 12th grade. At Maumee Valley Country Day School he led the school to the highest enrollment in its 132-year history.

Phillip began his career teaching theatre and directing student productions at Idyllwild Arts Academy. He holds an M.F.A. from the American Repertory Theatre's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and the Moscow Art Theatre School, a B.A. from San Diego State University, and a Certificate in School Management and Leadership from Harvard. He is currently completing his MBA at Plymouth State.

Phillip believes enrollment begins with relationships: knowing each family, listening well, and helping them see where their child belongs. That approach aligns closely with St. George's mission to grow curious minds into confident learners through expert academic attention and an unmatched sense of belonging.

We're proud to support St. George's through this transition and know Phillip will be a tremendous asset to the community. Congratulations, Phillip!

10/01/2026

We've always used the big firm" is a habit, not a strategy.

There is a comfortable assumption in independent school governance: for a search this important, go with the largest, oldest, most familiar name. Nobody gets second-guessed for that choice.

But a board's job isn't to make an unimpeachable choice. It's to make the right one.

At scale, a search firm's economics push toward volume — more searches per consultant, more process, more standardized deliverables, and a senior name who appears at the pitch and the finalist round while associates carry the middle. None of that is misconduct. It's what scale does.

Here is a Head of School who has seen both models:

"I have worked with several of the larger legacy search firms over the years, and IndySchool Consultancy's model was far more effective for our school. The process was more personal, more transparent, and more efficient. Most importantly, the candidates were stronger and better matched to who we are as a community."

We're a boutique firm by design, not by default. It means the consultant who wins your engagement runs your engagement. It means we take on a deliberately limited number of searches at once. It means when your Board Chair calls on a Sunday because a finalist just got a counteroffer, they reach a person who already knows the situation.

If a larger firm serves your school better, take it — genuinely. But make it a decision, not a default.

Schedule a search consultation → https://bit.ly/4h3QaeM

09/27/2026

The CFO who is brilliant on paper and wrong for your school is the most expensive hire you can make.

Head of School searches get the attention. But ask any Head where a transition actually went sideways, and you'll often hear about a business office, an advancement shop, or a division that never quite recovered from the wrong appointment.

Senior administrative searches carry a particular trap. The technical qualifications are easy to verify — the credential, the audit experience, the systems background. So committees over-index on them, hire a genuinely capable professional, and discover eighteen months later that capability was never the constraint.

An independent school CFOO doesn't just close the books. They sit in a room with trustees who are volunteers, explain a tuition model to parents who are also donors, defend a financial aid philosophy that is a mission statement in numbers, and hold a line with faculty they'll see at graduation. Temperament isn't a soft consideration in that seat. It is the job.

From a client:

"We needed a financial leader who could bring technical skill, strategic thinking, and the right temperament for an independent school community. ISC listened carefully, challenged our assumptions, and delivered candidates who were genuinely qualified and aligned. The process was efficient and confidence-building."

Challenged our assumptions. That's what a search partner with practitioner judgment is for.

We run senior administrative searches — CFO/CFOO, Assistant Head, Division Head, Advancement, Enrollment — with the same rigor as a Head search, because the cost of getting them wrong is closer than most boards assume.

Schedule a search consultation → https://bit.ly/4qmvvoD

09/25/2026

There's a moment in a kickoff meeting that tells a board everything.

Someone mentions a re-enrollment dip in the middle grades. Either the consultant across the table understands immediately what that implies — for the division head, for the admissions office, for next year's budget, for the leadership profile you actually need — or they write it down to research later.

Independent schools are not small corporations. Tuition dependence changes every calculation. Parents are constituents, not customers. Mission is a governing document, not a slogan. Faculty culture can absorb a strong leader or reject one, and it rarely announces which in advance.

A client put it this way:

"ISC's understanding of independent schools was evident at every step. They understood enrollment, admissions, culture, parent expectations, and the competitive landscape. That practitioner knowledge made the process sharper and more relevant than searches we have experienced before."

Practitioner is the operative word. Our consultants are former Heads of School and senior administrators. They have built a budget around an enrollment forecast that turned out to be optimistic. They have managed a faculty through a leadership change. They have sat on the other side of this exact table.

That background is not a credential we list. It's the reason our questions are better, our candidate assessments are sharper, and our counsel is worth having when a board reaches a genuinely hard decision.

You should not have to teach your search firm your sector.

Schedule a search consultation → https://bit.ly/4qmvvoD

09/24/2026

🔎 Search Announcement – Head of Upper School

King School in Stamford, Connecticut, has launched its search for a new Head of Upper School, beginning July 1, 2027, in partnership with IndySchool Consultancy.

Why King?

🏫 A Strong Foundation
Founded in 1865, King serves approximately 700 students in PreK through Grade 12 from more than 40 communities across Fairfield and Westchester counties.

💡 Inquiry and Innovation
King combines rigorous college preparation with inquiry-based learning, advanced research, global education, student choice, and close faculty mentorship.

🤝 Known and Supported
Strong relationships, a four-year advising model, and a commitment to balanced excellence help students grow intellectually, socially, and personally.

🚀 A Defining Moment
The new Head of Upper School will partner with incoming Head of School Marnie Sadlowsky as King prepares to open a major new Campus Center in fall 2027.

The Opportunity

• 🎓 Lead the academic program and daily life of Grades 9–12
• 👥 Recruit, support, supervise, and develop outstanding faculty and administrators
• 💡 Advance inquiry-based, interdisciplinary, and future-focused teaching and learning
• 🤝 Build trust with students, families, faculty, and colleagues
• 🏫 Help shape the opportunities created by the new Campus Center

📄 Full Opportunity Statement:
https://tinyurl.com/k3pfc7kj

📩 Interested candidates are invited to apply:
https://tinyurl.com/3waexank

Questions: Chris Brueningsen at [email protected] or Tim Viands at [email protected]

Check out my interactive Storydoc presentation