Head of School Search

Dear Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School Community, Thank you for your input, your support, and your patience during our Head of School search process. The Search Committee has been given the important job of selecting the best possible candidate to continue with the progress we have enjoyed under Michael Baber and to advance our Sacred Heart mission. We take this responsibility extremely seriously. With the support of Carney, Sandoe and Associates, we have undergone an incredibly robust search process. From a competitive pool of applicants, we selected three finalists. In early April, each finalist came to campus to meet with our faculty and staff, students, and select parents and alums. At the conclusion of the interview process, we had near-unanimous support to recommend one candidate to the Board of Trustees. The Board accepted our recommendation, and we initiated discussions with the chosen candidate. After several days of discernment by the candidate and numerous discussions with the School, the candidate and the School agreed that he would not become our next Head of School. We appreciate and understand our collective desire to have secured a new Head of School during this first round of vetting and interviews. However, that desire is outweighed by our deep commitment and duty to select the right candidate who is befitting of our amazing Sacred Heart school community, while minimizing any risk of going down a path that is inconsistent with the strategic vision of our School. We are grateful to have come to this point, and we look forward to continuing our search with great hope. We will now begin to identify interim Head of School candidates to lead us during the 2022-2023 school year, and we plan to launch a new Head of School search in earnest this fall. Guided by our founding mothers and the grace of the Holy Spirit, we go forward with confidence. I offer my sincerest gratitude to the members of our Search Committee for their dedication. Thank you all for your support and involvement in this process! Sincerely, Omar Qureshi     Chair, Search Committee Vice Chair, Board of Trustees

Dear Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill Community,

As our Head of School search moves into its final stages, we anticipate a very busy and exciting period ahead. We are thrilled to announce that the Search Committee will be selecting finalists on Friday and inviting three outstanding candidates to campus over the course of the next two weeks. We will bring each finalist to campus for two full days of interviews with members of our community, including students, faculty, staff, parents, alums, and trustees. At the conclusion of these candidate visits, the Search Committee will carefully review feedback and provide the Board with a recommendation for the best possible leader to move Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill to the next level of excellence. 

Reaching this stage of the search is the result of a thorough and intentional process. The Search Committee takes this responsibility very seriously. We have kept our commitment to our Sacred Heart mission and our Catholic identity at the center of our process. We are excited for our school community to welcome our highly qualified finalists. I am grateful to all who have participated in the process, and I am confident that we will have a successful conclusion to our search and continue to advance the important work of our school together.

Sincerely,

Omar Qureshi    
Chair, Search Committee
Vice Chair, Board of Trustees 

Dear Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill Community,

As Chair of the Search Committee appointed by the Board of Trustees to conduct the search for the next Head of School, I am writing with an update on our process. As you know, after six years, Michael Baber is moving on, with our gratitude for his solid leadership. He has gifted us with a demonstrable strengthening of this school community with both competitive excellence and the mission of the Society of the Sacred Heart. The Board now acts on its responsibility to provide for the leadership of our school.

This is a historic and sacred moment in the life of the school. The mandate to the Search Committee is unequivocal: conduct a national search of internal and external candidates which will be transparent; include the counsel of our constituents; and provide the Board with recommendations for their vote on the best possible leader to move Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill to the next level of excellence. The Search Committee has been constituted with five Board members and five other members of our community providing us with the richness of experiences and perspectives which we seek. Search Committee members are identified below.

We reviewed the credentials of six search firms, conducted interviews with three of them, and have selected Carney, Sandoe & Associates (CSA) to support us in our search. Their extensive national experience with our Network of Sacred Heart Schools as well as other highly respected independent schools gives them an enviable reputation and allowed them to begin assisting us immediately.  

We place a high emphasis on letting the community inform this process, even while recognizing that not everyone can be directly involved. CSA has already collected valuable insights from a community survey and virtual site visits with the following groups: Faculty and Staff; Principals and Academic Deans; Department Chairs; Campus Ministry, select students and student council; Parent Association; Admissions; Development; alumnae/i; and administration including current Head of School and CFO/COO. In addition, the extensive Strategic Plan research of the past two years has been available to CSA.

All of this critical feedback has been incorporated in the drafting of the School and Position Profile. Reviewed and approved by the Board leadership and Search Committee, it has been posted on our Head of School Search page and circulated nationally to recruit the pool of candidates for our position. Because of the work already done, we are comfortable following an ambitious timeline:

• February will be devoted to establishing the pool of candidates and for review of profiles and credentials;
• In early March the Search Committee will select candidates for interviews by the Committee and identify candidates to be advanced;
• After comprehensive vetting, finalists will be invited to campus in April and opportunities will be available for meeting with constituent groups. The Search Committee will review all feedback and determine its recommendations to the full Board which has the responsibility to select the Head of School. 

We are grateful to the many who have and will make themselves available to be part of this process. Together, we share our gratitude for the gifts we have received from Michael Baber. We are excited to recruit a leader for Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill who will be deeply inspired by the dynamism of our school community, bring values and talents to meet our serious expectations, and have the capacity to take us to new heights. 

In this process, we count on the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide our steps, inform our decisions, and inspire the right leader to be available to this new opportunity. We ask you to join us as we pray together for this process and one another.

Sincerely,
Omar Qureshi     
Chair, Search Committee
Vice Chair, Board of Trustees

Dear Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School Community,

As you know, Head of School Michael F. Baber recently announced that he will be leaving at the close of the academic year. Since his announcement, the Board of Trustees has been planning purposefully for a smooth leadership transition and a future of continued excellence. The Board of Trustees has reviewed proposals from six educational search firms, narrowed the pool to three finalists, interviewed the finalists, and selected Carney, Sandoe & Associates to support the School as we choose our next Head of School. Carney, Sandoe & Associates is the national leader in independent and Catholic school searches and will ensure we attract top candidates who are committed to our Sacred Heart mission.

The Board is has also formed a Head of School Search Committee comprised of current trustees and members of the school community at large. We know that broad community representation is important to the success of our search. The committee will be led by Omar Qureshi, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees. The additional members of the search committee are:

• Tom Adamitis, Board of Trustees and current parent
• Margi Sheehan Dolan ’89, Board of Trustees
• Stephen Sweeny, Board of Trustees and current parent
• Bridget Bearss, RSCJ, Board of Trustees
• Tina Ciapciak Maher ’05, Executive Board of the Villa Duchesne-City House Alumnae Association
• Kelly Walbrandt, current parent
• Dan Leary OH’81, current parent
• Karin Caito, current parent
• Brian Gross, current parent

The committee, with the guidance and expertise of Carney, Sandoe & Associates, will be reviewing qualified candidates both internally as well as externally.

We need your help! The search process we are planning is built on extensive constituent engagement. Please take a minute to share your feedback here to inform our search. In this brief survey, you can share what you value most about Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School and the leadership qualities you seek in our next Head of School.

The Board and Mr. Baber are committed to a thorough process, a seamless leadership transition, and a successful second semester. Mr. Baber has the full support of the Board to conclude his tenure as Head of School. We have every confidence in his commitment to our students and to Sacred Heart education.

We are so grateful for your time and your feedback as we begin this process.

Sincerely,
Spencer Finney Jr.
Board Chair

Dear Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School Community, I am writing to inform you that Michael F. Baber, our Head of School, has accepted a new role as President at Sacred Heart Greenwich in Greenwich, Connecticut. Michael joined us over five years ago, and our school has thrived during his tenure. He has been a visionary leader here, and we are extremely grateful for his commitment to Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School and his lifelong commitment to Catholic, Sacred Heart education. Michael has transformed the school in many ways, and while we are saddened by his departure, I know the school is in a better place now than ever before. Michael has been open with me since he joined our community that a leadership position at Greenwich is the only job that would lure him away from Villa Duchesne. We can all appreciate the call of our dream job that allows us to be closer to home and family. We are extremely grateful for his service to us. Michael will remain with us through June and begin his new role on July 1, 2022. Please read Michael's message below and join me in congratulating him on this career achievement. Please be assured that the Board of Trustees of Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill will continue the positive momentum that Michael has created at the school. We are committed to providing a life-changing Sacred Heart education to each of our students. We are already in conversations with several national search firms to support our efforts, and we will form a Search Committee in the coming days. The Board is meeting this week to move forward with the work of identifying a new Head of School. During this process, we are committed to several objectives, including: finding a world-class leader that is committed to Catholic, Sacred Heart education; providing timely communications to you as the process moves forward; facilitating a smooth and stable transition that ensures each student continues to have an excellent educational experience; and advancing our strategic plan, Ignite the Mission. Thank you for your confidence and support as we engage in this process. This change will usher in a new chapter of excellence for our school, guided by the new Head of School, the Board of Trustees, our tremendous faculty and staff, and our entire school community. Best, J. Spencer Finney, Jr. Board Chair Dear Sacred Heart Community at Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill, It is with great mixed emotions that I announce to you that the 2021-2022 school year will be my final year at Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill. While my time with you has been momentous and so very productive, my wife, Lauren, and I have decided that it is the right time for us to return home. In the fall of 2015, I was interim Head of School at the oldest continuously operated Sacred Heart school in the world: Academy of the Sacred Heart, Grand Coteau, Louisiana. While preparing to return to the community that I was “on loan” from, Sacred Heart Greenwich, I was invited to apply to be Head of School at one of our most iconic schools: Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill. I was honored to submit my materials and thrilled to be chosen to be the leader of this exemplary school community, and I said “Yes.” Now, in my sixth year at Villa, I have been invited to return to Sacred Heart Greenwich to serve the school in a newly created and inaugural role of President. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and after much prayer and discernment, I have once again said “Yes.” As many of you know, Lauren is an alumna of Greenwich, her father served as a trustee, and we raised our children there. In a word, it is returning home. Throughout these years, I have worked for successful succession planning in vital administrative positions. We have an incredible leadership team and faculty and staff. I know that Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill has the strongest possible foundation for a future of great success and sure stability. During our time together, we have accomplished much to benefit our students and families: advanced good governance and best-practices with faculty, staff, alumni, and trustees; garnered the support of the parent community; united the faculty and staff; unified the school from two schools on one campus to one school on one beautiful campus; strengthened curriculum; stabilized enrollment; achieved record-setting philanthropy; engaged in a successful strategic planning process; launched an innovative tuition model; and so much more! I am grateful for our work together and that the mission of Sophie Barat is stronger here at Villa because of our partnership. I am proud to have contributed to the reality that Villa is now poised for a very strong future. I will miss you all and look forward to our paths crossing as we all serve this great mission entrusted to us in so many wonderful ways. Of course, you have my pledge to work tirelessly for an effective and smooth transition for the next Head of School. Cor Unum,  Michael F. Baber Head of School

As of April 29, 2022, the Search Committee will begin to identify Interim Head of School candidates to lead Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill during the 2022-2023 school year, and plans to launch a new search in earnest this fall. Please check back for updates! Thank you for your support!

We expect to have an interim Head of School during the 2022-2023 school year, with a new Head of School starting in summer of 2023.

We are grateful to everyone who has participated thus far by responding to the community survey and participating in interviews with the team from Carney, Sandoe & Associates. We will continue to share updates on the process with our entire community. If you have feedback on the process, please contact Barbara Daush or Karen Neitzel at 617-542-0260.

Transparency is an important aspect of our search. Please check this page regularly for information and look for regular Head of School Search email updates from Search Committee Chair Omar Qureshi.