H. Watson Jordan Ed D.   Watson is an author, a lifelong educator, and a certified WHY.os trainer. His company, The Resilience Initiative, promotes resilience around the world. Watson works with teams using the WHY Operating System to drive superior insight, understanding, and production. This algorithm guides the identification of individual and group zones of genius and explains how to leverage them.    As an author, his book Mine, Ours, and Yours: A Father's Journey through the...

Carrie Grimes is the Director of the M.Ed. in Independent School Leadership at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education and Human Development. Carrie is a Professor in the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, and teaches across master's and doctoral programs at Peabody College. In addition to her teaching and scholarship, Carrie facilitates workshops and learning sessions for independent schools and associations on topics such as leadership, storytelling, strategic...

Mike Connor Mike is President of Connor Associates and co-author of the NAIS book, Marketing Independent Schools in the 21st Century.  His latest e-Book, Pulling in the Same Direction, emphasizes everyone’s role in recruitment, retention, and fundraising. Earlier in his 30+ year career Mike worked in nearly every position at independent K-12 schools. Today, Connor Associates has 16 Associates and Partners and has served clients in 28 states and on four continents. Connor Associates stakes...

Chris Pryor is president and founder of The Gowan Group. As a lifelong educator, strategist, and thought leader, Chris is in his third decade of independent school leadership. He has held leadership positions at independent schools such as Harbor Country Day, The Independence School, Hackley, Rye Country Day, and Tuxedo Park School and was actively involved with NYSAIS. Chris is a well-known speaker on topics such as social media, marketing, admissions training, crisis management,...

  Dr. David Willows is Co-founder and Strategic Director at [YELLOW CAR], the world's leading experience strategy training and consultancy firm for schools. Between 2005 and 2022, he was Director of Advancement at the International School of Brussels, Belgium. During this time, he grew to be widely regarded as one of the most innovative practitioners in the field, helping to shape and define the future of Advancement (admissions, marketing & communications, fundraising &...

Rebecca Malotke-Meslin is the founder of Pleasantly Aggressive Coaching & Consulting where she empowers women to take control of their leadership journey and ditch the habits holding them back. Rebecca combines a background in social research with 20 years of sales, marketing, communications, and school leadership to create a transformational experience for her clients. One of the many connections she has with InspirED is that Rebecca was director of admissions at three private schools...

Deborah Janz has a passion and curiosity for international and corporate culture. This, combined with her experience with business, sales, and technology, created the foundation of IMPACT Marketing International in 2007. One of Deborah's first projects was a family business, providing safe and educational online experiences for young children. She geeked out daily on how to attract more paid users to the website. The KidZap website ultimately received more than one million visitors per...

This episode of the SparkCast is not about school marketing. It’s not about attaining and retaining students. It’s not about social media. It’s about the Pechersk School International in Kyiv, Ukraine. It’s about the story of the attack on the school by the Russians in February 2022… the story of the school’s leaders’ perseverance and resilience…the story of how the international private school community has come to PSI’s aid in remarkable and creative ways…and it’s the story of the story. ...

Penny Abrahams is a senior consultant at Independent School Management, better known as ism.  Penny first joined ism in 2010 as a member of the Advancement Academy’s founding faculty. As a Senior Consultant, she specializes in marketing communications, enrollment management, and development. Her experience in these areas comes from working in private and independent schools and other non-profits for more than 20 years. Penny also serves as the Advancement Department Head at ism ensuring...

Aubrey Bursch, founder and CEO of Easy School Marketing, is passionate about supporting small private schools to increase enrollment, retention, and revenue by designing and executing marketing strategies that work for them. As the daughter of lifelong educators and a mom of two independent school students, she combines her passion for schools with her 20+ years of marketing and development experience to help schools identify and implement high ROI initiatives. Aubrey co-hosts the Mindful...

Lauren Campbell is the Publications Manager at Cretin-Derham Hall, a Catholic high school in St. Paul, Minnesota. She manages digital communications, the biannual alumni magazine, and the Student Apprentice program. (which is what we’re going to be talking about today.) She previously worked in communications for a local nonprofit and a community bank. Lauren is focused on using the power of communications and storytelling to build and enhance community. She holds a Bachelor's of...

Dr. Andrew T. Weller is the Dean of Enrollment and Strategic Marketing at St. Stephens & St. Agnes School in Alexandria Virginia. Previously he was the Director of Admissions for Avenues: The World School, the Executive Director of Advancement at Ridley College (Canada) and the Director of Admissions at Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia. Andrew was a board member of the East Bay School for Boys, served on the inaugural Admissions Leadership Council, served four years on the planning...

Dr. Carrie Grimes is an Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Leadership, Policy, and Organizations department and also serves as the Director of the Independent School Leadership Master's program at Vanderbilt University. She completed her Ed.D. in Leadership and Learning in Organizations, where her research focused on social identity and community within school settings. Carrie's career has been centered in independent school leadership, including roles in administration, teaching,...

Alex Magay has been an independent school educator and fundraiser for nearly twenty-five years. For the first decade of his career he was a full-time teacher and basketball coach at The Winchendon School while serving as a member of an admissions team that grew enrollment from one hundred and eighty students to two hundred and fifty.  As the Dean of Community Life at Winchendon, he created the school's first crisis response team and an environmental sustainability program, and as Dean of...

Mike Connor is President of Connor Associates Strategic Services and co-author of the NAIS book, Marketing Independent Schools in the 21st Century.  His latest e-Book, Pulling in the Same Direction, emphasizes everyone’s role in recruitment, retention, and fundraising. Earlier in his 30+ year career, Mike worked in nearly every position at independent K-12 schools. Connor Associates stakes its value on its experience with providing comprehensive services, including ensuring proof of ROI...

Angela Brown is the Enrollment Marketing Leader, K-12 at Niche, where she's on a mission to help make K-12 admission and marcom professionals' lives easier. Before joining Niche, she was director of marketing and communications at Flint Hill School, a PK-12, co-ed day school just outside of Washington, DC. Angela joined Flint Hill in 2014 after spending 10 years focusing on B2B marketing communications. She is a member of the American Marketing Association, National Association of Independent...

Kevin MacNeil of Metric Marketing applies his passion for sales, deep understanding of online marketing and audience conversion to help schools deepen their customer relationships and ultimately, improve their bottom line. Kevin has over 10 years of experience in advertising and digital marketing. As a graduate of the Asper School of Business, with majors in Entrepreneurship and Marketing, Kevin fundamentally understands the marketing processes that help drive and run any business.  For show...

James Quoted “We had 40 new inquiries in July.” “We were very upfront with admissions during the pandemic. ‘We want you for life.’” “We’re going to start with our first contact to build a retention strategy for you.” “The long-term sustainability and success of McClay is built on the relationships and fulfilled partnerships of our families and students.” “My job was to raise the metabolism of the school.”

Mike Vachow is a Managing Director at Gowan Group, a full-service consultancy to independent schools based in Connecticut. Before becoming a consultant, Mike worked in independent day schools for 30 years. He began his career as an English teacher and coach at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans before moving on to administrative roles there. He continued in school leadership as a division director at Lake Forest Country Day School, for ten years as Head of Forsyth School in St. Louis, and...

Dr. David Willows is Director of Advancement at the International School of Brussels, Belgium. David is also a regular blogger, presenter & trainer at international events and author of several books and articles in the field of international school branding, admissions, marketing and communications. Today, he is considered a leading practitioner in the field of advancement and continues to be involved in several global network organizations, helping to shape and define the future of the...

James Knapp’s experience ranges from higher education to local and national non-profits to his current role as the Chief Strategy Officer at The Cushman School in Miami, Florida. During his career and in his current role, James has led on many major projects, such as major gift fundraising, strategy, and implementation for everything ranging from endowments, scholarships, planned gifts, and top-level branding, as well as major multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects on multiple campuses....

Antony Campitelli has spent 38 years marketing in the high-tech industry with the last 27 years in Silicon Valley. Prior experience includes Apple and Adobe, to startups. Antony’s mission is about building scalable products that are not just about solving problems but are fun to use. This is one of the key reasons he co-founded Enquiry Tracker with his brother Greg. Greg Campitelli is one of the most experienced marketing professionals in the educational system in Australia. He was a...

Emily Cretella is a strategic storyteller and content marketer. The owner of Cursive Content, Emily helps school marketers tell powerful stories that attract dream families, increase inquiries and enrollment, strengthen communities, and grow school influence. Prior to founding Cursive in 2012, Emily was the director of strategy at a Connecticut marketing agency, where she managed the execution of large-scale traditional and online marketing campaigns for clients ranging from schools and...