Leadership Testimonials

What our clients say about us:

"[Search Associates] began a relationship with International School of Luxembourg two years ago in support of the school selecting a new High School Principal that arose unexpectedly due to the illness of the incumbent, with a selection accomplished in a fast-track search.  Subsequently the Board engaged [Search Associates] in an institutional assessment project with a focus on succession planning which now entails the appointment of Chief Operations Officer…(and) a new Head of School for 2021-2022."

—Robert Deed, Board Chair, International School of Luxembourg


"When our Board of Directors was looking for a new Director, we engaged Search Associates to guide our hiring process. Search Associates was thorough from start to finish and provided us with a list of qualified candidates with a diverse range of experiences from schools all over the world. Every one of our finalists met or exceeded our desired qualifications for the position, and the process to narrow down the list to a few who could participate in the community site visits was difficult as we were forced to say "no" to individuals who could competently do the job. Our school community is thrilled with our selection for our new Director, and the Board of Directors would absolutely recommend Search Associates to any school embarking on a similar process."

—Keri Dziuban, Chair of the Director Search Committee, Windhoek International School


"I would be happy to recommend Search Associates for any SLT [Senior Leadership Team] recruitment. For us at the British International School of Stockholm they provided an invaluable help in securing our new principal. Recruitment is difficult in the best of times and during a pandemic with global travel restrictions it becomes even harder. [The Search Associates Senior Consultants], together with the rest of the team were able to, in a pragmatic way overcome the physical barriers and through a virtual visit of our school and virtual meetings with the stakeholders they were able to present a picture of us that was favourable and informative for the candidates. Within our limited timeframe they were able to quickly and efficiently sort through the large number of applicants, do initial interviews and create a list of 16 qualified candidates, with ample information and reference checks, for us to select from. They were also very supportive during the final phase and the contract negotiation and always there if we had questions or needed advice. We are very happy with the process and most importantly with the end result."

—Jonas Fischerström, Chair of the Board, British International School of Stockholm


"[Search Associates] recently served as Lead Consultant for the International School of Ho Chi Minh City, with a student population of 1,250 students and Stamford American International School with a student population of 3,100 students in coordinating their Head-of-School and Superintendent searches, respectively.  These two schools represent the “flagship” schools for Cognita in Asia and the leadership provided to these two searches was consistently professional and highly responsive."

—Andrew Hancock, Education Director for Asia, Cognita in Asia


"Search Associates ran a search for our Executive Director. They took great care in learning about our needs. They then applied those themes to the search, culling the list down to a manageable group of well-matched candidates. They made recommendations and provided strong insights. Their efforts were appreciated."

-Dr. Duane Arbogast, Chief of Strategy and Innovation, Children's Guild Alliance (College Park Academy) College Park, MD


"[Search Associates] worked closely with the Board to develop the job vacancy announcement, advertise the position world-wide and screen candidates to a reasonable number after which the Search Committee further interviewed and identified an excellent field of finalists."

—Lucia Arteta, Board Chair, American School of Quito


"We hired a General Director! The process was successful. Our senior consultant immediately understood the needs of our school, the delicate management of time, and the direction the Board of Directors wanted to move towards.  The candidates presented were very good matches with two excellent finalists.

Search Associates understood the profile of the candidate that our community/ board was looking and all the candidates we received were excellent. The Senior Consultant was very accessible throughout the process and his visit to Lincoln was very important in the process."

—Board President, Lincoln School, Costa Rica


Did You Know…?

Senior Associate Bill Turner’s international teaching career has taken him to Sudan, Italy, Qatar and the UAE as well as his home country of England. His very first teaching position was in rural Sudan.