Chief Executive

Kristin School

Auckland, New Zealand

1997 - 1999

I was invited to Kristin School to oversee and implement a new “Three Schools” structure that the Board had decided to introduce to provide a scaleable management framework for the school’s future anticipated rapid growth.  Establishing the new structure began with the appointment of a new senior leadership team – Principals of the Junior, Middle and Senior Schools, a Dean of School, a new Business Manager and an IT Manager.  This process was immediately followed up by the development of a new Strategic Plan for the school – the school’s first such document which was designed to give direction for the school’s expansion over the coming ten-year period.  For students, I developed and introduced an innovative program to develop student leadership (especially through leadership camps), developed and implemented a new system of student effort awards, introduced the practice of inviting each student to visit him in my office on their birthdays, and co-ordinated the process of refining and updating the school uniforms.  Throughout my time at Kristin, I chose to stay in touch with my students and with my teachers’ daily needs by teaching full regular classes of Geography, and I even experienced life as a student (for a day).  I also brought to fruition a building program to provide a new gymnasium for the Junior School.  In early 1998, Kristin celebrated its 25th anniversary, which was a wonderful occasion that provided a great focus to help build a cohesive sense of community.  I worked tirelessly to promote Kristin internationally, developing links with schools in China and Japan, speaking at conferences in such diverse locations as Taipei, Kathmandu, Penang and Taupo, culminating in Kristin’s hosting of the 10th Annual Conference of AAIBS (Association of Australasian International Baccalaureate Schools) in mid-1999.  Importantly, working behind the scenes, I helped steer the board through an intensive restructuring process to overcome some complex and sometimes contentious governance issues that threatened its viability, including researching best practice models of governance in a wide variety of schools and helping negotiate an entirely new set of by-laws.  The new by-laws, board structure and board membership were introduced in mid-1999, with some commentators observing that these reforms “saved the school”. 

A gallery of photos showing the school during my headship can be seen HERE.

A description of the day I spent as a student can be seen HERE.