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School Leadership

2025 Retreat for Heads and Associate/Assistant Heads of School

Thursday, January 23, 2025
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM (EST)
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Agenda

January 23
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM Welcome Ayanna Hill-Gill
President, ADVIS
9:15 AM - 10:45 AM Morning Keynote: Leading in Transition- What Are the New Skills, Literacies, & Dispositions for Liminal Times? Homa S. Tavangar
Co-founder, Big Questions Institute and Oneness Lab
10:45 AM - 10:55 AM Break
10:55 AM - 12:00 PM Workshops More information coming soon
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Networking Lunch
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Afternoon Keynote: The State of the Hiring Pipeline in Education Future Design School
2:05 PM - 3:05 PM Spotlight Conversation Continued: E.E. Ford Framework Lee Levison
Former Head of School, Collegiate School
3:10 PM - 4:10 PM What 100 Heads of School Reveal About the Independent School Business Model Peter Baron
Founder, Moonshot
Keynote:
Leading in Transition: 
What Are the New Skills, Literacies, & Dispositions for Liminal Times?

presented by Homa S. Tavangar

A wide variety of experts – from anthropologists to organizational developers, historians to futurists – all agree: we are living through a time of significant transition. Schools in particular are under duress, whether due to AI, social-political polarization, climate pressures, staff burnout, changing measures and visions of “success,” or other emerging crises and challenges. All of which begs the question, what is the purpose of school in an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world? And crucially, what are the new skills, literacies, and dispositions leaders need to guide their communities into the future?

This keynote will unpack these big questions, share insights from experiences with innovative schools around the world, and introduce the tools and strategies, from anticipatory skills to managing complexity and operating with radical candor, that will support independent school leaders to support more relevant, just, sustainable (regenerative), healthy, and joyful schools, now and into the future. 

Homa Tavangar is the co-founder of the Big Questions Institute and the Oneness Lab.

She brings 30+ years’ experience helping diverse organizations and individuals to build cultural, racial and global competence, strategic governance, and visionary, generative leadership in diverse schools and organizations. She coaches leaders on accountability for equity, leading through crisis, and advises on strategic design and planning across five continents. She has co-authored seven books for educators, and is the author of best-selling Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World (published by Random House) and Global Kids (Barefoot Books). Her most recent publication is 12 Big Questions Schools Must Answer to Create Irresistible Futures with Will Richardson (forthcoming, 2025). 

A graduate of UCLA and Princeton, Homa was born in Iran, has lived on four continents, speaks four languages, and has heritage in four world religions. She serves on several Boards, including ISS (International Schools Services) and is a judge for the Templeton Prize, considered the “world’s most interesting prize” with a purse calibrated to exceed the Nobel Prize. She is married and the mother of three adult daughters, and resides in Villanova, Pennsylvania.


Stay tuned for more information on 
workshops and the day's agenda.

THANK YOU TO OUR EVENT SPONSOR!

and
TO OUR PREFERRED SPONSOR

for subsidizing the credit card fees on
all 2024-25 professional development programs!

PROGRAM FEES

Member Schools - $275 per person
Non Member Schools - $550 per person

Late Registration Fee starting 1/9/25
Member Schools - $299 per person
Non Member Schools - $575 per person

Not sure if your school is a Member?
Check our list of ADVIS Member Schools. 

Act 48 Credits Available

• You may request credit up to 7 days after the event.

• Per the PA Department of Education, ADVIS is required to report your successful completion of Act 48 evaluation within 30 days of the event. 

• Available to members only.

• Contact Candyce Wilson for more information.

ACCESSIBILITY

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. Please feel free to request an accommodation on the registration form. For inquiries about accessibility, please contact Membership and Outreach Manager Candyce Wilson. At least two weeks' advance notice will help us to provide seamless access.

EVENT CONTACTS

Dena Torino, ADVIS Director of Programming

ADVIS Event Policies and Disclaimers