January 28, 2010

Dear families and friends of The Hewitt School,

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of The Hewitt School, I am pleased to announce that Joan Lonergan will be our seventh Head of School, commencing July 2010. Joan has established herself as an internationally recognized leader of great distinction in the education of young women. She has successfully served for seventeen years as Head of School at the Castilleja School in Palo Alto, California. We are very excited that Joan will be coming to Hewitt to share her vision for girls' education in the 21st century.

Prior to her long and stellar career at Castilleja, Joan was a teacher of mathematics and Director of The Advanced Studies Program at St. Paul's School in Concord, NH. She received a BS summa cum laude in Mathematics Education at the University of New Hampshire, received an Ed.M. from Harvard University at the Graduate School of Education in Administration, Planning and Social Policy, and engaged in post graduate work at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Teachers College at Columbia University.

The Board is particularly impressed with Joan's success in establishing Castilleja's reputation as a nationally known leader in global education. She has brought world-renowned leaders such as Nobel Peace Prize winners Muhammad Yunus and Al Gore, author Tom Friedman, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to her school to discuss issues confronting our world today. Joan believes that our girls should be engaged global citizens, expanding upon our school's commitment to community service. She has said, "I believe that a life well lived goes beyond individual achievement; it includes service to one's community, which may be local or global." While Joan expects her students to strive to be the best they can be in the academic arena, she understands the importance of focusing on the whole child. She is equally committed to the importance of fitness and wellness education as well as to technology and STEM research.

In addition to Joan's responsibilities as Head of School, Joan has served on scores of public service and educational boards of directors; she currently is a director of the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa, a director of the KIPP Bay Area charter schools, and a member of the Technology Task Force with the National Association of Independent Schools.

We are also pleased that along with Joan comes her husband, John Merrow, education correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, a documentary producer, author of several books on contemporary educational issues, and a trustee of Teachers College. Joan has two sons: Kyle Lonergan, an attorney with the law firm of McKool Smith in New York City, and J. Tyler Lonergan, a professor of medicine at UCSD Medical School in San Diego, CA. Joan's three young grandsons in Manhattan are students at The Trinity School and The Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church Day School.

This exciting moment in the history of Hewitt is the culmination of an extremely diligent and inclusive search process. I am especially grateful to trustees Juan Sabater and Valerie Mogul as co-chairs of this search, as well as the other trustee members of the committee: Colin Knudsen, Louis Dubin, Anne Meyer and Anne Maloney Ross for their dedication to this job. I must also thank all the parents, administration, faculty, staff and alumnae who participated in this very time intensive process. All of their hard work has brought to our school a leader of unparalleled strength and vision.

With the selection of Joan Lonergan, the Hewitt community can rest assured that there will be a smooth transition of leadership as Linda MacMurray Gibbs prepares to retire and turn our beloved school over to Joan. By "Faith and Courage" we start a new decade of adventure for Hewitt. In our 90th year, we have much to celebrate and much to look forward to. Please join me in welcoming Joan and her family to the Hewitt community.

Sincerely,

Wendy Liff Flynn
Chair, Board of Trustees