Nell Todd Appointed Interim Head of School

On behalf of the Board of Trustees and the Interim Head of School Search Committee, I am pleased to announce that Nell Todd, Academy Class of ’93, will serve as Interim Head of School this coming year.

One of the finest attributes of The Academy is the loyalty and commitment of its many accomplished alumni. Nell has agreed to assume this new role after six years of service as a trustee, and she brings to it her wide experience in organizational life. She has been granted a leave from her position as a senior manager at Deloitte Consulting.

Interim 2013-14 Head of School Nell Todd and family

Interim 2013-14 Head of School Nell Todd and family

The Board has asked Nell not only to provide overall leadership this year, but also to work with the entire Academy community in shaping the school’s future, with the goal of creating a five-year strategic plan. Additionally, she will help to refine our internal processes and procedures. This focus will strengthen and enhance all that makes The Academy an extraordinary institution.

Nell will work in close cooperation with Stephanie Purington, who will be responsible for the daily operations of the school. Nell has asked Stephanie to serve as Dean of Faculty, in addition to her current roles as Academic Dean and Registrar. The Board is grateful for Stephanie’s outstanding leadership this past year, and she will be invaluable in helping to make this transition a smooth one.

Nell grew up in Ashfield and attended The Academy for six years. She has a BA in political science from Carleton College and a MS in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University. Upon graduating from The Academy, she interned for Senator Kennedy and worked on the passage of the National Service Trust Act, which established AmeriCorps. Throughout college, she helped promote that program. After college, she served in the Peace Corps in Ghana for two years. While in Ghana, Nell lived and worked with a rural community to provide water and sanitation infrastructure, raising the funds within the region to do so, as well as raising additional funds to build a school.

Since the Peace Corps, Nell has managed several USAID-funded projects focused on strengthening local governments in Eastern Europe and Africa and has spent the last eight years at Deloitte Consulting advising various agencies including the State Department, World Bank, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, and the General Services Administration. Nell’s focus at Deloitte is with strategic planning and the transformation of agency operations. She led Deloitte’s learning program for her practice, and she recently completed an intensive workshop in negotiation for women leaders at Carnegie Mellon. Nell is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Working with Nell these past years, I have benefited again and again from her wise counsel, and been moved by her love for the school. I am personally thrilled that she will be leading the school next year, and the entire Board of Trustees joins me in that sentiment.

If you have any questions for me or for Nell feel free to write or call. She can be reached via e-mail at ntodd@charlemont.org or via phone at 413-210-2468. I can be reached via e-mail at david@epsteinig.com or via phone at 203-233-9611.

Sincerely,

David Epstein ‘87
Chair, Academy Board of Trustees