PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
We offer an array of programs throughout the year designed to help you and your colleagues develop the critical knowledge and skills needed to serve your students and communities and advance in your careers, whatever your areas of expertise. From our Annual Conference, to our Summer Institutes, to more intimate workshops and forums, there’s abundant opportunity for connection, growth and advancement.
Professional learning programs are site-based, online, or both, depending on the event.
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Dr. Ari Betof is the co-founder and partner of Mission & Data. He is a nationally recognized expert in the area of nonprofit organizational stewardship and sustainability.
Ari’s consulting work draws upon fifteen years of leadership and governance experience building thriving organizations and maximizing mission-aligned revenue growth. His facility with organizational effectiveness, group dynamics, and strategic planning is paired with his proven track record of cultivating high-impact change. Ari brings together skills in strategy, analysis, and organizational transformation with a nuanced understanding of fundraising, enrollment management and branding in support of his clients. He leverages expertise facilitating group process with diverse sets of stakeholders. Ari is an agile, savvy, and emotionally intelligent partner who builds trusting relationships, achieves results, develops others, and creates scalable systems.
Ari has served as an independent school trustee, head of school, administrator, and teacher. He began his career as a physics and mathematics teacher and coach. Ari understands multiple facets of independent school management, having held the administrative roles of Head of School, Chief Advancement Officer, Director of Enrollment Management, and Director of Strategic Planning. His experience includes working at day and boarding schools; schools as small as 170 students and as large as 1,100 students; single campus and multi-campus schools; single and multi-division schools; and religiously affiliated and nonsectarian schools.
Ari has been an instructor in University of Pennsylvania’s PennGSE Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership and Leadership Master’s Program. He has served as a mentor in Harvard University’s School Leadership Program, faculty member in the NAIS School Leadership Institute, and judge for the CASE Circle of Excellence Awards.
Ari’s governance experience includes serving two terms on the Board of Directors of the Friends Council on Education (FCE) and as a member of FCE’s Development Committee and the National Friends Education Fund Working Group. He has also been a trustee of Newtown Friends School (Newtown, PA) and Cambridge Friends School (Cambridge, MA).
Ari is co-host of “The Impossible Questions Series,” season one of Enrollment Management Association’s “EMA Idea Factory” podcast with Hans Mundahl. He has been a facilitator on more than a dozen webinars during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a panelist for Independent Schools on the Brink, a collaborative webinar co-hosted by 33-member associations across the country for more than 1,900 trustees and senior leaders. Ari was also the author of the blog Org Sustainability — Insight and Advice for Leaders that Change the World.
His clients include independent schools, colleges, membership associations, educational nonprofits, and private sector companies. Ari has recently consulted to firms such as Noodle Partners and Educational Directions, membership organizations like the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS), and more than twenty independent schools including Elisabeth-Morrow School (NJ), Austin Walldorf School (TX), Bancroft School (MA), and American-British Academy (Muscat, Oman).
Ari graduated with a B.S. in physics and mathematics from the Guilford College honors program. He earned his doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania with a focus on financial and organizational sustainability. His doctoral dissertation, “Leading in the Light: A Study of Financial and Organizational Sustainability of Friends Schools,” was awarded with distinction. Ari graduated with his MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management where he was an Emerging Markets Institute Fellow and recognized as a Poets & Quants 2021 Best & Brightest EMBA. Ari, his wife, and two daughters live in Bucks County, PA.
Patricia previously served as the Head of the Upper School at the Ransom Everglades School in Coconut Grove, Florida. She also worked at the Loomis Chaffee School as a dean of students and was heavily involved in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion at the school. Prior to Loomis Chaffee, Patricia worked at The Madeira School in several roles, including as a major gifts officer, director of student activities, special assistant to the head of school on diversity, and the assistant dean of students for residential life.
Before transitioning into education, Ms. Sasser worked at ESPN as an associate producer, where she was a two-time Emmy® nominee and a 2006 Emmy® award winner.
Raquel Majeski began working at Lawrence Academy in 2017 and is the Assistant Head for Equity and Community Life. She has a BA from Eckerd College in communications and human development and an MA from Nova Southeastern University in reading and special education. Raquel lives in Brazer with her two children, Lauryn and Wade. She loves spending time with the students at LA, participating in book clubs and bible study groups, and attending Dave Matthews Band concerts. Raquel is also the Chair of the diversity task force for the town of Groton.
Marquis Scott joined The Lawrenceville School in 2018 and has made significant contributions in various leadership roles. He has implemented a technology-focused strategic plan to enhance cyber security practices, improve employee portal utilization, and streamline campus-wide technology support. Marquis has also played a pivotal role in advancing the School’s initiatives on diversity, equity, and inclusion, implementing best practices and leading senior staff efforts in this area. Additionally, he has led strategic communication and institutional marketing committees, ensuring consistent communication, website strategy, and brand identity aligned with the School’s mission. Marquis has been instrumental in the marketing and branding of Lawrenceville’s Gruss Center for Art & Design and collaborates with the Lawrenceville community to prioritize and execute strategic projects.
In addition to his role as the assistant head of school, Marquis has successfully undertaken various acting leadership positions, including chief technology officer, director of communications and external affairs, dean of diversity, inclusion, and community engagement, and director of human resources. Currently, he leads a student-centered Wellness Team, working collaboratively with the medical director, dean of students, and dean of campus well-being to prioritize a holistic approach to student well-being.
Scott holds a Master of Business Administration from Rutgers University’s School of Business in Newark, NJ, a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ, a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Computer Science from Union College in Schenectady, NY, and he is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Management from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pa, with an anticipated completion date of Winter 23-24. Scott recently completed the National Association of Independent Schools’ Fellowship for Aspiring School Heads. He is an alumnus of the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Hotchkiss Board of Governors.
Courtney is an educator and DEI practitioner who currently lives in Connecticut at The Loomis Chaffee School, where she serves as the Director of Gender and Sexuality, English teacher, and dorm head. Courtney is an alumna of The Peddie School in New Jersey, earned her BA in Philosophy from Lehigh University, where she also was a member of the Women’s Soccer team. She earned a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Dartmouth College, where she studied gender and sexuality, and a Master in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she studied diversity, equity, and inclusion more broadly. Courtney enjoys spending time outside with her dog, reading memoirs, running, cycling, and sipping coffee.