The Well Institute

Summer 2025 Dates Coming Soon!

This summer we are hosting The Well, an institute for leaders of color.  

This program begins with a 3-day retreat at

The Sofitel Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.

Darryl J. Ford, Carney Sandoe’s Vice President of Education Leadership Services, has assembled a team of outstanding education leaders and coaches to shepherd the institute, with the goal of providing maintenance and sustenance for experienced school leaders to better serve their schools.  The program will include expert coaching and support in the areas of racial literacy, crisis communication, team-building, and well-being.

After the retreat is complete, participants in The Well will continue to benefit from the institute’s community through seasonal check-ins with guided support from expert coaches and practitioners.

We are currently planning for the Summer of 2025.  Please fill out inquiry form below to be added to our email list.  We will be sending out a save the date invitation this fall along with other helpful information.

The Well Inquiry Form

The Well did what it said it would do. It provided a safe space for educational leaders of color to gather and be vulnerable in ways that are not always possible in our home communities. From influential presenters to former or sitting heads, each person shared invaluable information, providing insight and affirmation. I highly recommend this experience and hope to rejoin folks at The Well.

                                                                                          -Dwight Vidale, Collegiate School (NYC)

SUMMER 2024

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Dr. Howard Stevenson is the Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education, Professor of Africana Studies, in the Human Development & Quantitative Methods Division of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the Executive Director of the Racial Empowerment Collaborative, a center for research and intervention development that brings together community leaders, researchers, authority figures, families, and youth to promote racial literacy and health in families, schools and neighborhoods.  From 2015-2021, he was the Co-Director of Forward Promise, a national philanthropy office supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to fund community-based organizations that help families of color heal, grow, and thrive above the trauma of historical and present-day dehumanization. Dr. Stevenson was the keynote speaker at CS&A's Forum DEIB this January in Philadelphia and is looking forward to contributing to The Well this summer.

Dr. Tekakwitha Pernambuco-Wise has presented at numerous national and international conferences on topics such as online/blended learning, leadership, governance, boarding school life, school transformation, inclusion and full-service schools. She was a faculty member of NAIS’ Fellowship for Aspiring School Heads for 6 years and is currently on the faculty of THN’s Women in Leadership Seminar. She has served on the Boards of Trinity School (CA), Archbishop Mitty High School (CA) and THN. She is the Secretary of the NAIS Board and serves on the board of PAIS. She graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Mathematics, having completed her junior year abroad at The University of Sussex, UK. Whilst at Brown, she spent summers teaching in Mexico, New York and on a Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona. In 2018, she earned a Klingenstein Fellowship for Heads of Schools at Columbia University and in 2019 was elected to membership of the Heads Collegiate Forum.

Dr. George James, LMFT (13 time TODAY Show guest) speaks, counsels, consults, coaches, and teaches people how to overcome everyday relational struggles to build successful connections in love, family, and career. With a practical approach to relationships and life, Dr. James helps bring success within reach of those he influences. He works extensively with professional athletes, entertainers, adult men & women, and young adult women and men on various issues including adulting, parenting, love life, leadership, career, and work-life balance. He is also known for his work as a media consultant. Dr. James attended Villanova University as a Presidential Scholar and majored in Psychology with a concentration in Africana Studies. He received his Masters of Family Therapy degree from Drexel University (where he also received awards in leadership and community service) and his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Immaculata University.

The Well Faculty Bios

Carney, Sandoe & Associates Team Members

Heather Flewelling, Madeleine Maceda Heide, Brandon Jacobs,

and Cathy Shelburne and Donisha Thaxton will also be leading

sessions during the program. A full schedule, along with booking

instructions will be sent after registration is complete.

Carney, Sandoe & Associates | (617) 542-0260 | Interested in finding a school job you love?

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