"Carney, Sandoe & Associates has conducted not one, but two successful Head searches for The Berkeley Carroll School. In the spring of 2003 we retained Carney, Sandoe & Associates to find an interim Head on short notice. Under particularly trying circumstances, Aggie Underwood and Gary Gruber dove in, accurately assessed the school and its needs, and brought us a highly seasoned professional who had just finished a critical two-year interim headship. In the spring of 2005 we went back to Carney, Sandoe & Associates to conduct the search for our permanent Head. As with the interim search, Aggie and Gary canvassed every segment of the school community, bringing credibility, consensus and trust to the process. I heard repeatedly that Aggie and Gary truly "got" the unique nature of our institution. They brought us a deep pool of candidates who were interested in our school for the right reasons and we were ultimately able to hire a new Head who will come into the school community with broad support from students, parents, faculty and the Board."
-- Paul Mourning and The Berkeley Carroll School Search Committee Berkeley Carroll School, Brooklyn, New York
"Wilmington Friends School retained Carney, Sandoe & Associates in the spring of 2005 to help us find both an interim head and a long-term head. We've been more than pleased with their work. They did very well at the basic task of finding an extremely strong pool of candidates for both positions, but they went beyond that to help us develop a broadly inclusive selection process that won rave reviews from every constituency of the school community. It was gratifying to see our community come to a strong consensus on the individuals for both the interim and long term head positions, and I'm convinced that the wisdom and counsel that we received from Aggie Underwood and Jay Crawford played a key role in achieving that."
-- David Singleton and the Wilmington Friends School Search Committee Wilmington Friends School, Wilmington, Delaware
As the new Board Chair of Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, I am pleased to write to you today concerning our work with Dr. Gary Gruber.
Dr. Gruber has been doing consulting work with Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis, Indiana for the past fifteen months. We have truly enjoyed our experience working with Gary. Last spring, Dr. Gruber came to Brebeuf Jesuit and very quickly came to know our school inside and out. He has experience with many different issues that arise in secondary schools and was quick to put together an analysis of our challenges. He is a terrific listener and team builder. He gets to know the different constituencies of the school in a short amount of time. Dr. Gruber is always available to help and listen.
Because Dr. Gruber knew our school so well and had built trust quickly, we hired him for our search for a new President. During the search process, he worked tirelessly to bring the greatest number of qualified candidates to the table. His background work was valuable as he informed us of different candidates and their strengths, yet never imposing his opinions upon our decisions as a search committee.
We have since hired a new President for Brebeuf Jesuit. We look forward to a new school year and are thankful for Dr. Gruber's leadership and guidance.
-- Janet Clark and the Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School Search Committee Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, Indianapolis, Indiana
“We enjoyed and benefited from your sage guidance during our search for our first Head of School. You took the time to learn about our particular school and our unique set of circumstances. With your advice, we were able to develop a search process that included all of the school’s constituents. This created the necessary broad base of support for our new Head. The diligent work of our Search Committee, along with your insight into our institution and people, allowed us to find an outstanding candidate. We are looking forward to a bright future under the leadership of our new Head of School, and to a continued partnership with CS&A.”
A sincere and personal “thank you” to you!
-- Carolyn Suttle and the St. Anne School Search Committee St. Anne School, Laguna Niguel, California
The search exceeded our expectations, producing many more serious candidates then we had anticipated for a school of our size and scope (over 50). I believe this is largely a reflection of the personal contact network utilized by Carney-Sandoe.
The on-site evaluation of the school was invaluable as was the summary session with the Board. This process helped us crystallize what attributes we were truly seeking and what sort of person would be the best fit with all of our constituencies.
We were very fortunate to have Trina Secor as our consultant. Trina's background in Episcopal schools was invaluable, particularly her personal insights as a current Board chair. Her candor and "no- nonsense" approach to the search was much appreciated and helped keep us on track at all times. Further, she was always a phone call or e- mail away and was responsive to messages without fail despite her extremely busy schedule.
The Search Committee was very impressed with Carney-Sandoe's commitment to candidate confidentiality. Trina was always very explicit regarding what information could and could not be shared with the school community.
The Search Committee and Board greatly appreciated Trina's sensitivity to cost issues. Her willingness to interview quarterfinalists with us on site in one weekend rather than seeing them first herself was not only cost effective but also greatly compressed the time line. Ultimately we met our search deadline easily.
Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the search, a tribute both to Trina's skill as a consultant and Carney-Sandoe methods, was the diversity of candidates that were presented for quarter finalist interviews. Each had one or more of the attributes we had established as important. At first, we could not imagine why Trina had suggested some of these candidates. But when we interviewed them it was abundantly clear that this was part of the process, helping us focus on which of the attributes we would ultimately regard as essential and which were merely useful.
Astonishingly our new Headmaster has ALL of the attributes were regarded as critical to the future success of St. Mark's - we couldn't be more pleased!
-- Richard Brown and the St. Mark’s School Search Committee St. Mark’s School, Houston Texas
We are currently searching for a new Head of School in Warsaw. As we started we were on a tight time schedule and Carney Sandoe visited our school on very short notice. Their communication and advice have helped to build the confidence of the board and the whole school community. I have been impressed by their professionalism, focus, insight and disciplined approach. I am sure we are on the right track because it is so important to start the search right.
--Matthew Tebeau, Search Committee Chair, American School of Warsaw
“You received great kudos at our board meeting last week, in case I didn't tell you in the excitement of getting a yes from Marifred. We all recognize what magnificent leadership you've given us, and what stellar candidates you produced! Thank you. The pleasure in this project has been all mine, and I know the rest of the search committee would agree.”
-- Shayla Rumely and the Howard School Search Committee Howard School, Atlanta, Georgia
“I wanted to wait to respond until I had an opportunity to take the time to appropriately thank you for your truly fabulous work on behalf of CSG. Starting back with the first day when you interviewed with the search committee in April, the on campus assessment you conducted in May, the caliber of candidates you brought forward to the search committee and school, through our "closing of the deal" with Diane Cooper, you have been the consummate professional and have really been a pleasure to work with! Based on what Diane and the other candidates told us, you were a very persuasive advocate for CSG and were successful in convincing several candidates who probably wouldn't have otherwise given us the time of day that they really had to talk to us. You guided us through some tricky internal issues, and I think the results even on that aspect of the process could not have worked out better. Your hard work, guidance and counsel proved invaluable time and time again.
Thank you so much for an outstanding, superb (I could go on and on) job. I am sure that you have more references for future searches than you need, but if anyone were to ever ask me, I would tell them that I couldn't imagine undertaking a head of school search without using Rayna Loeb.”
-- Franck Wobst and the Columbus School for Girls Search Committee Columbus School for Girls, Columbus, Ohio
"The search consultants were delightful to work with, professional yet reasonable at all times and were perceptive in their read of our school and its immediate and long-term needs in a Head of School – they made a cumbersome, lengthy process somehow flow with purpose."
-- Holly Boyer Scott, and The Andrews School Search Committee The Andrews School, Willoughby, Ohio
"I felt CSA did an extremely professional job on the Harley School Head search. The level of service was tailored specifically to our needs. Our search consultant Trina Secor was highly responsive to our requests, and the candidate pool sourced for the search was diverse, while at the same time representing a good fit with our culture."
-- Robert Sands and The Harley School Search Committee The Harley School, Rochester, New York
"The ‘buzz’ on campus is great about the candidates you’ve rounded up for the position. How can we choose? A great position to be in. Congratulations and thank you."
-- Woody Price, Former Head of School, Abington Friends School Abington Friends School, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania
“During the last two and one half years I have chaired Search Committees for two New York City independent schools. In both cases the institution needed a search process that was transparent, national in scope and credible to all interested constituencies. In each case the professionals from C&S were instrumental in crafting a search which was founded on a good understanding of the character of the school and its leadership needs. In addition, in each search the depth and breadth of the candidate pool was remarkable. Finally, each Head designate was a great fit with the institution. It has been a joy to work with the C&S team.”
David Thomas and the Trevor Day School and The School at Columbia University Search Committees Trevor Day School, New York City, New York The School at Columbia University, New York City, New York
Each school is unique in its own way. Taipei American School is indeed no exception. The school has more than 55 years of history in Taiwan and was looking for new leadership during the last school year. After considering several recruiting agencies, we decided Carney, Sandoe & Associates would best meet our needs.
The several Carney, Sandoe & Associates personnel we worked with are professional and dedicated. Each one of them has his/her own expertise. Two of them were former school heads. They also worked well together as a team. All of them are well-connected to the educational world.
These consultants took the time to get to know our school, culture and the different contingencies. They also listened to our needs. They visited our school, integrated our community’s input and compiled a school profile. Their approach was practical yet systematic. Their advice was timely. Each one of them wanted to do a good job and do it right. Mr. Jim Carney even made himself available to answer our questions and strategized the searches with us. They not only performed; they shone.
Through a concerted effort, we have successfully recruited an excellent superintendent who started in February. With our new superintendent, we hired a high school principal in March. The new leadership has been well received and endorsed by the entire community. Our Carney, Sandoe & Associates consultant who guided us through the leadership transitions came back to visit in May. We have then started a middle school principal search. I have all the confidence that this search is also going to be successful.
Our school has continuously progressed and raised to a higher level. Carney, Sandoe & associates have played a very important role in our successes. We have enjoyed our partnership with them and would recommend their services to any schools in need of good human resources.
--Jade Chien, Search Committee Chair, Taipei American School
School Testimonials
Carney, Sandoe & Associates has helped schools find qualified leaders for over 30 years. Our primary goal is matching schools to administrators and Heads for a perfect fit that compliments both parties. Read our clients’ testimonials and see for yourself:
"Carney, Sandoe & Associates has conducted not one, but two successful Head searches for The Berkeley Carroll School. In the spring of 2003 we retained Carney, Sandoe & Associates to find an interim Head on short notice. Under particularly trying circumstances, Aggie Underwood and Gary Gruber dove in, accurately assessed the school and its needs, and brought us a highly seasoned professional who had just finished a critical two-year interim headship. In the spring of 2005 we went back to Carney, Sandoe & Associates to conduct the search for our permanent Head. As with the interim search, Aggie and Gary canvassed every segment of the school community, bringing credibility, consensus and trust to the process. I heard repeatedly that Aggie and Gary truly "got" the unique nature of our institution. They brought us a deep pool of candidates who were interested in our school for the right reasons and we were ultimately able to hire a new Head who will come into the school community with broad support from students, parents, faculty and the Board."
-- Paul Mourning and The Berkeley Carroll School Search Committee Berkeley Carroll School, Brooklyn, New York
"Wilmington Friends School retained Carney, Sandoe & Associates in the spring of 2005 to help us find both an interim head and a long-term head. We've been more than pleased with their work. They did very well at the basic task of finding an extremely strong pool of candidates for both positions, but they went beyond that to help us develop a broadly inclusive selection process that won rave reviews from every constituency of the school community. It was gratifying to see our community come to a strong consensus on the individuals for both the interim and long term head positions, and I'm convinced that the wisdom and counsel that we received from Aggie Underwood and Jay Crawford played a key role in achieving that."
-- David Singleton and the Wilmington Friends School Search Committee Wilmington Friends School, Wilmington, Delaware
As the new Board Chair of Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, I am pleased to write to you today concerning our work with Dr. Gary Gruber.
Dr. Gruber has been doing consulting work with Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis, Indiana for the past fifteen months. We have truly enjoyed our experience working with Gary. Last spring, Dr. Gruber came to Brebeuf Jesuit and very quickly came to know our school inside and out. He has experience with many different issues that arise in secondary schools and was quick to put together an analysis of our challenges. He is a terrific listener and team builder. He gets to know the different constituencies of the school in a short amount of time. Dr. Gruber is always available to help and listen.
Because Dr. Gruber knew our school so well and had built trust quickly, we hired him for our search for a new President. During the search process, he worked tirelessly to bring the greatest number of qualified candidates to the table. His background work was valuable as he informed us of different candidates and their strengths, yet never imposing his opinions upon our decisions as a search committee.
We have since hired a new President for Brebeuf Jesuit. We look forward to a new school year and are thankful for Dr. Gruber's leadership and guidance.
-- Janet Clark and the Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School Search Committee Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, Indianapolis, Indiana
“We enjoyed and benefited from your sage guidance during our search for our first Head of School. You took the time to learn about our particular school and our unique set of circumstances. With your advice, we were able to develop a search process that included all of the school’s constituents. This created the necessary broad base of support for our new Head. The diligent work of our Search Committee, along with your insight into our institution and people, allowed us to find an outstanding candidate. We are looking forward to a bright future under the leadership of our new Head of School, and to a continued partnership with CS&A.”
A sincere and personal “thank you” to you!
-- Carolyn Suttle and the St. Anne School Search Committee St. Anne School, Laguna Niguel, California
The search exceeded our expectations, producing many more serious candidates then we had anticipated for a school of our size and scope (over 50). I believe this is largely a reflection of the personal contact network utilized by Carney-Sandoe.
The on-site evaluation of the school was invaluable as was the summary session with the Board. This process helped us crystallize what attributes we were truly seeking and what sort of person would be the best fit with all of our constituencies.
We were very fortunate to have Trina Secor as our consultant. Trina's background in Episcopal schools was invaluable, particularly her personal insights as a current Board chair. Her candor and "no- nonsense" approach to the search was much appreciated and helped keep us on track at all times. Further, she was always a phone call or e- mail away and was responsive to messages without fail despite her extremely busy schedule.
The Search Committee was very impressed with Carney-Sandoe's commitment to candidate confidentiality. Trina was always very explicit regarding what information could and could not be shared with the school community.
The Search Committee and Board greatly appreciated Trina's sensitivity to cost issues. Her willingness to interview quarterfinalists with us on site in one weekend rather than seeing them first herself was not only cost effective but also greatly compressed the time line. Ultimately we met our search deadline easily.
Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the search, a tribute both to Trina's skill as a consultant and Carney-Sandoe methods, was the diversity of candidates that were presented for quarter finalist interviews. Each had one or more of the attributes we had established as important. At first, we could not imagine why Trina had suggested some of these candidates. But when we interviewed them it was abundantly clear that this was part of the process, helping us focus on which of the attributes we would ultimately regard as essential and which were merely useful.
Astonishingly our new Headmaster has ALL of the attributes were regarded as critical to the future success of St. Mark's - we couldn't be more pleased!
-- Richard Brown and the St. Mark’s School Search Committee St. Mark’s School, Houston Texas
We are currently searching for a new Head of School in Warsaw. As we started we were on a tight time schedule and Carney Sandoe visited our school on very short notice. Their communication and advice have helped to build the confidence of the board and the whole school community. I have been impressed by their professionalism, focus, insight and disciplined approach. I am sure we are on the right track because it is so important to start the search right.
--Matthew Tebeau, Search Committee Chair, American School of Warsaw
“You received great kudos at our board meeting last week, in case I didn't tell you in the excitement of getting a yes from Marifred. We all recognize what magnificent leadership you've given us, and what stellar candidates you produced! Thank you. The pleasure in this project has been all mine, and I know the rest of the search committee would agree.”
-- Shayla Rumely and the Howard School Search Committee Howard School, Atlanta, Georgia
“I wanted to wait to respond until I had an opportunity to take the time to appropriately thank you for your truly fabulous work on behalf of CSG. Starting back with the first day when you interviewed with the search committee in April, the on campus assessment you conducted in May, the caliber of candidates you brought forward to the search committee and school, through our "closing of the deal" with Diane Cooper, you have been the consummate professional and have really been a pleasure to work with! Based on what Diane and the other candidates told us, you were a very persuasive advocate for CSG and were successful in convincing several candidates who probably wouldn't have otherwise given us the time of day that they really had to talk to us. You guided us through some tricky internal issues, and I think the results even on that aspect of the process could not have worked out better. Your hard work, guidance and counsel proved invaluable time and time again.
Thank you so much for an outstanding, superb (I could go on and on) job. I am sure that you have more references for future searches than you need, but if anyone were to ever ask me, I would tell them that I couldn't imagine undertaking a head of school search without using Rayna Loeb.”
-- Franck Wobst and the Columbus School for Girls Search Committee Columbus School for Girls, Columbus, Ohio
"The search consultants were delightful to work with, professional yet reasonable at all times and were perceptive in their read of our school and its immediate and long-term needs in a Head of School – they made a cumbersome, lengthy process somehow flow with purpose."
-- Holly Boyer Scott, and The Andrews School Search Committee The Andrews School, Willoughby, Ohio
"I felt CSA did an extremely professional job on the Harley School Head search. The level of service was tailored specifically to our needs. Our search consultant Trina Secor was highly responsive to our requests, and the candidate pool sourced for the search was diverse, while at the same time representing a good fit with our culture."
-- Robert Sands and The Harley School Search Committee The Harley School, Rochester, New York
"The ‘buzz’ on campus is great about the candidates you’ve rounded up for the position. How can we choose? A great position to be in. Congratulations and thank you."
-- Woody Price, Former Head of School, Abington Friends School Abington Friends School, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania
“During the last two and one half years I have chaired Search Committees for two New York City independent schools. In both cases the institution needed a search process that was transparent, national in scope and credible to all interested constituencies. In each case the professionals from C&S were instrumental in crafting a search which was founded on a good understanding of the character of the school and its leadership needs. In addition, in each search the depth and breadth of the candidate pool was remarkable. Finally, each Head designate was a great fit with the institution. It has been a joy to work with the C&S team.”
David Thomas and the Trevor Day School and The School at Columbia University Search Committees Trevor Day School, New York City, New York The School at Columbia University, New York City, New York
Each school is unique in its own way. Taipei American School is indeed no exception. The school has more than 55 years of history in Taiwan and was looking for new leadership during the last school year. After considering several recruiting agencies, we decided Carney, Sandoe & Associates would best meet our needs.
The several Carney, Sandoe & Associates personnel we worked with are professional and dedicated. Each one of them has his/her own expertise. Two of them were former school heads. They also worked well together as a team. All of them are well-connected to the educational world.
These consultants took the time to get to know our school, culture and the different contingencies. They also listened to our needs. They visited our school, integrated our community’s input and compiled a school profile. Their approach was practical yet systematic. Their advice was timely. Each one of them wanted to do a good job and do it right. Mr. Jim Carney even made himself available to answer our questions and strategized the searches with us. They not only performed; they shone.
Through a concerted effort, we have successfully recruited an excellent superintendent who started in February. With our new superintendent, we hired a high school principal in March. The new leadership has been well received and endorsed by the entire community. Our Carney, Sandoe & Associates consultant who guided us through the leadership transitions came back to visit in May. We have then started a middle school principal search. I have all the confidence that this search is also going to be successful.
Our school has continuously progressed and raised to a higher level. Carney, Sandoe & associates have played a very important role in our successes. We have enjoyed our partnership with them and would recommend their services to any schools in need of good human resources.
--Jade Chien, Search Committee Chair, Taipei American School
