The Puzzle: Blog

Hosted at Saint Mary’s School in Raleigh, NC, the conference is designed to empower women to seek out leadership positions at independent schools and provide them with resources and guidance to achieve their leadership goals.

The topics of women’s leadership and equality in the workplace are both prolific and polarizing, inspiring debate, research, and education worldwide. It’s no secret there is a shortage of women serving as heads of school or in other high-level positions, yet there is very little being done to shift this trend. There needs to be a strong support network that encourages women to explore opportunities to take their careers down a path towards leadership roles.

The Women in Leadership Conference is an ideal opportunity to begin to create these paths to success. It gives women who work in independent schools a place to talk about the issues they face in their careers and a place to come together to enable change. They have a chance to network with peer leaders and to learn how to face the challenges they may encounter as they choose to grow their careers.

CS&A has been fortunate to have attended the conference in the past and, as has always been the case, our attendees found the event extremely worthwhile and inspiring and left with some very powerful takeaways. Below, they share their thoughts from the conference.

Kim Garner, Director of Conferences

The event was wonderful. I felt like we left with our heads and hearts very well fed. A point that came up several times was the likely presidential nomination of Hilary Clinton. Despite where someone stands on the political spectrum, that fact that we are part of a historic moment is fascinating and something to be proud of and celebrated.

Another resounding topic was the responsibility of search firms in terms of advancing women in schools, as well as in leadership roles. The need for more women in top administrative roles is huge, and search firms are the pipeline. There is a lot of data on this topic which cannot be argued. If we are not aware of the data, we are not aware of the problem.

A few themes really stood out to me during the conference:

You cannot lead if no one is behind you. Having power is not a dirty word. As a leader, power and influence are key.

In terms of “having it all” it comes down to essentialism. Distinguish the vital.

Beth McArdle, Placement Associate, English/Language Arts

Saint Mary's School has a beautiful campus and it was a great venue for this event. We were warmly welcomed by Monica Gillespie, Head of School, and other administrators.

The conference was a great way for participants to meet and network; all of the participants now have access to (the brand new) NCAIS Connect, an online resource and networking tool.

Participants were encouraged to research and understand the facts regarding the lack of equity of women in leadership positions. By reviewing the data, we can be more aware of the problem.

Through presentations and panels, we learned about essentialism and balance, NAIS statistics regarding women in leadership roles, and job search advice. There was also an opportunity for participants to receive one-on-one mentoring from independent school leaders.

There were participants at all stages of their careers attending: teachers, division heads, department chairs, admissions directors, heads of school, counselors, human resources administrators, and search consultants.

Marlene Shaw, Senior Search Consultant

It was a pleasure to return for the second straight year to the Women’s Leadership Conference. St. Mary’s School is a perfect spot to host the conference as the facilities are lovely and the location ideal.

The opportunity to network with women leaders, such as Amanda Torres from NAIS; Laurie Hurd, Executive Director of ISANNE; Tekakwitha Pernambuco-Wise, Head of School at Sea Crest School; Linda Nelson, Executive Director of NCAIS; and others was invaluable. Hearing their stories of success, as well as challenges they faced, provided great perspective.

I especially appreciated the statistical information available from NAIS on women leaders. To be able to put numbers against some of the issues women face was very enlightening, and Amanda Torres’ insight and analysis was excellent.

Jessica Wright, Associate Director of School Services, Executive Assistant to the President

I loved hearing the data behind some of the challenges women face every day. Hearing statistics (as researched and compiled by NAIS, Amanda Torres) was both enlightening and disarming. Being able to say that it is not opinion, but fact, that women are marginalized more than men is incredibly empowering.

The conference made me feel connected to other professional women, who despite having very different stories, all have shared similar experiences.

One phrase that has continued to stick with me is, “We look at women for their accomplishments, men for their potential.” It is something I’ve often seen happening, but could not verbalize.

Image credits: CS&A staffers

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