Head of School Search Update

April 28, 2022

Dear HMI Community,

I’m told the snow is finally starting to melt in Leadville, so spring is on its way and Semester 48 will be drawing to a close next month.  As you know, Danny O’Brien will be moving on from HMI at the end of this academic year, and Amy Roberts—who is currently HMI’s Associate Head of School and the Semester Program Director—will be serving as Interim Head of School for the coming year.  We are grateful to Danny for his outstanding leadership over the past nine years, and we know that HMI will continue to thrive with Amy at the helm for the 2022-2023 school year.

I am writing now to share information about the search process for HMI’s next Head of School, who will lead the school starting in 2023.  The search will be a far-reaching process with the goal of identifying a Head who shares HMI’s core values and brings vision and passion to the task of leading HMI’s next chapter. 

The Board of Trustees, which is tasked with hiring the Head of School, has designated a Head of School Search Committee to lead this search process.  We have a fantastic committee that brings together perspectives from across the HMI community, including Trustees, alumni, alumni parents, and current and former employees and apprentices.  The committee will include:

• Whitney Leonard, Chair (Trustee, Semester 7 alumna)
• Alexa Adams (Alumni Council member, Semester 28 alumna, Semester 40 apprentice)
• Marcie Berkley (Trustee, alumni parent)
• Bob Friedman (Trustee, alumni parent)
• Bob Henderson (Trustee, alumni parent)
• José De Jesús (Trustee)
• Justin Talbot (Director of Wilderness Programs & Risk Management)
• Alex Wingert (Alumni Council member, Ex officio Board member, Semester 18 alumna)

The Search Committee will be working with a team from Storbeck Search, which has deep experience in recruiting independent school leaders.  After interviewing several national search firms, we felt Storbeck was best positioned to assist with HMI’s search.  We value Storbeck’s expertise and are excited to work with them in this process.

The first major phase of the search involves seeking input from all of you.  We want to hear what you think is special about HMI, your vision for HMI’s future, and what HMI’s next leader should bring to the school.  To that end, we ask you to fill out a short survey that we have prepared.  The survey should only take about 10 minutes to complete, and your responses will be kept confidential (shared only with the Search Committee and the Storbeck team).  We appreciate your time—your insights are incredibly valuable to us.

Our search consultants at Storbeck will also be hosting a series of listening sessions via Zoom for those who want to share additional thoughts beyond the written survey. Please stay tuned for an email from Barrett Donovan, HMI Director of Communication & Engagement, with additional details.

As an HMI alumna, this moment of transition has prompted me to think back on how far HMI has come since the students of Semester 1 first hit the trail. But it also makes me think about how beautifully the school still embodies the vision of its founders, Molly and Christopher Barnes, who strove to create an educational environment where “nature and minds meet.” I now look forward to working with all of you to identify the leader who will share that passion in carrying HMI further down the trail.

Sincerely,