The World Leading Schools Association was established in 2011 in New York City, arising from a shared wish amongst Heads to develop enhanced understanding and cooperation between their students, educators and administrators right across the world, supported by a formal network. WLSA schools encourage young people to be open-minded, purposeful individuals and engaged, effective global citizens.
WLSA recognises and celebrates the cultural and educational differences between schools, and seeks to build a network on the principles of diversity, transformative education and inclusion. Many of us share an awareness of the scale and range of major challenges facing us in the 21st century. Stronger collaborations in seeking and sustaining shared, innovative solutions are going to be the hallmarks of the leaders amongst the generations we are educating now.
What we also share is our faith in the imagination, idealism, resilience and creativity of the young people in our schools, and the ability of passionate and dedicated educators to support and inspire.
:Head of School
:Chair
:Head od School
:Vice Chair
Jack X.F. Jia received his MBA at the China-Europe Management Institute (China-Europe International Business School) in 1989. In 1993 Dr. Jia received his PhD in Economics and Management at University Twente in the Netherlands and has been working as a senior Chinese expert for this University ever since.
In 1995 he, together with a select group of Western academic professors, founded the CHEER Foundation (European Union Education Foundation). In 2004 Dr. Jia led the CHEER team to initiate the World Leading Schools Forum with the support of leading international schools such as Eton College (UK), Harvard-Westlake School (USA) and Beijing No. 4 High School (PRC).
After seven years of working on successive educational forums, Dr. Jia, together with leading school heads, founded WLSA in 2011.
Taylor Stockdale is a leading American educator with more than 30 years of experience in independent schools in the United States.
He is a noted authority on educational leadership, strategic planning,curriculum development, school financing, and capital philanthropy. Stockdale graduated from Colorado College with a B.A. in history and political science, received an M.A. in economics from University of Delaware, and a certificate in leadership from The Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University.
An active and influential member of the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), and The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), he serves as the sixth head of The Webb Schools in Claremont, California. He is a trustee with the Educational Records Bureau (ERB), California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS,) and acts on accreditation teams for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
Douglas L. Christiansen holds a Ph.D. in higher education administration and is Vanderbilt University’s vice provost for university enrollment affairs, and dean of admissions and financial aid. Dr. Christiansen is also an associate professor of public policy and higher education in the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. Currently, he is serving as Chair for the Board of Trustees of the College Board. In his role as vice provost, Dr. Christiansen serves as the university’s chief enrollment strategist, guiding the University Enrollment Affairs Leadership Team, which consists of the offices of Undergraduate Admissions, Student Financial Aid and Scholarships, Academic Affairs Process and Solution Implementations (PSI), University Registrar, Enrollment Management for Health Sciences Education, Student Accounts, the Vanderbilt Institutional Research Group (VIRG), the Career Center, and University Enrollment Affairs Strategy and Implementation. He also oversees the selection process for Ingram, Chancellors, Cornelius Vanderbilt, POSSE, and QuestBridge scholars programs. Dr. Christiansen and his team have led the integration of enrollment and admissions systems across the university to integrate academic systems that support institutional enrollment goals at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels. He has been in higher education and admissions for almost thirty years.
Eric Li is the founder and managing partner of Chengwei Capital. He serves on the Board of Directors of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), and is Vice Chairman of CEIBS Publishing Group.
Mr. Li co-founded and currently serves on the Board of Dulwich College International, a leading K-12 international school group with campuses across Asia. Li is a member of the Council of International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and serves on the Board of Directors of Fudan University. In addition, he founded the Chunqiu Institute for Strategic and Development Studies and Guanch.cn, a leading Chinese online news and analysis media outlet.
Additionally, he sits on the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Symphony and the International Advisory Board of the New York Philharmonic. Li is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.
His educational background includes a BA in economics from University of California, Berkeley, an MBA from Stanford Business School, and PhD in political science from Fudan University.
Li is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, South China Morning Post, and the Huffington Post. His speech regarding political systems at TED Global 2013 is available online.
Richard B. Commons has been President of Harvard-Westlake School since 2013.
He was previously Headmaster of Groton School from 2003-2013. Mr. Commons earned his B.A. in English at the University of Virginia, where he was an Echols Scholar. He holds masters degrees from Middlebury College and Stanford University.
Mr. Bradford Gioia has served as Headmaster at Montgomery Bell Academy since 1994. He also teaches English IV AP. During that time the school has enjoyed tremendous achievements in academics, athletics, the arts, and annual giving.
Gioia has also overseen the growth of the school’s physical campus, including the transformation of the school’s Harding Road campus, as well as the addition of 10 acres in Sylvan Park and 150 acres in McMinnville, Tennessee, that is home to the school’s observatory. The school has also expanded beyond the borders of the United States, with exchange programs on five continents that send nearly 100 boys across the globe every year. Prior to his arrival at MBA, Gioia spent eighteen years at the Darlington School in Rome, Georgia. He served in a variety of roles, including English faculty, Director of Admission and Financial Aid, and Headmaster.
Gioia holds a B.A. in English from University of the South, a M.A. in English from Middlebury College, and a M.Ed., Administration from West Georgia College. He is involved with a wide variety of civic and professional organizations, including the International Boys’ Schools Coalition, The Country Day School Headmaster’s Association, a founding member of the Winchester International Symposium, The Headmaster’s Association, National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the Downtown Rotary Club. He has recently been asked to serve with four other heads of school from around the world to form a charter school, similar to the model of the African Leadership Academy, for the best and brightest students in Slovakia.
In 2007 Charles Goodyear retired as the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Chairman of the Office of Chief Executive for BHP Billiton, the world’s largest diversified resources company. He was named Chief Executive Officer in January 2003.
During his nine years with BHP Billiton the organisation grew from a company with a market capitalisation of US$12 billion to US$220 billion becoming one of the largest companies in the world in terms of market capitalization. As CEO he was early in the identification of China and other developing countries as drivers of future resource demand.
Charles is currently the President of Goodyear Capital Corporation and is a director of several companies. He is also a Trustee of the Yale Corporation. Charles remains active in the global commodity and financial community.
He holds a Bachelor of Science (Geology & Geophysics) from Yale University, Connecticut and an MBA from The Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania. He has lived in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. He has been a member of the International Council on Mining and Metals and the National Petroleum Council.
A magna cum laude graduate of Princeton with a Master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts, Tom Hudnut began his teaching career at St. Albans School (DC) in 1970. A school head for 36 years, he has led Norwood School (K-6) in Maryland, Branson School (9-12) in California, and, for 26 years, first Harvard and then Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles (7-12, two campuses, 1,600 students).
During his career, Tom has served on the boards of six independent schools (including service on four search committees) and one private college in addition to his Presidencies of The Headmasters Association, The Country Day School Headmasters’ Association, The Cum Laude Society, and the California Association of Independent Schools.
He has chaired more than 15 regional accrediting teams and been a member of several more. He currently sits on two foundation boards (one medical, one educational) and has served as an Area Planning Commissioner for the City of Los Angeles.
Tom’s experience as a fundraiser and mentor is noteworthy: during his years at Harvard-Westlake, the school raised close to $400 Million in annual, capital and endowment gifts; and 19 of his former administrators and faculty have gone on to become independent school heads.
James Montoya is Chief of Membership, Governance, and Global Higher Education and Secretary of the Corporation for College Board. In this position, he directs the College Board’s efforts to support the work of colleges and universities across the globe, especially in the areas of admissions, recruitment and retention as well as high-impact initiatives that promote equity and access for all students.
Based in New York, he also serves as a senior statesman for the international division and as an educational spokesperson for the College Board in the national media. Mr. Montoya joined the College Board in 2001 after a decade of service with his alma mater, Stanford University, where he was first Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, then Vice Provost for student affairs, the university’s chief student affairs officer. He continues to serve on the Advisory Board of the Stanford Graduate School of Education and as a guest lecturer through Stanford’s Centre for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity.
Dr. Sumer Singh is an alumnus of the Doon School & St. Stephen’s College. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Literature in Education from De Montfort University in UK.
He has published four books including one on Comparative Religions. He is a popular speaker on Global Citizenship and has been invited to speak in Spain, France, Czech Republic, Romania, China & India.
Dr. Sumer Singh was the Head of Daly College (1870) and Director Daly College Business School, Indore for 14 years and Lawrence School (1847), Sanawar for 7 years and also served as Founder Director of the Asian School.
Over the years he has served as Advisor Education in the Govt. of Punjab, as Chairman of the Indian Public Schools Conference, as Trustee and Advisory on the Executive of Round Square, UK and is currently serving on the Boards of AFS India, Punjab Public School Nabha, Univariety and Indore Management Association. He is advisor to Sanskaar Valley School, Bhopal, Mayo College Girls School, Ajmer and GCIS, Bangalore. He is also an independent director at InfoBeans Technologies Ltd.
He is keen on community service and has served as Vice President of SUTRA an NGO with 40,000 women as members and has been active as the Director in the joint project of ICU2 between Ermitage, Paris and DC, Indore.
He has designed a number of schools including Pathways World School and Sanskar Valley School. He is committed to the broader picture of education and believes it is through opportunities provided in school and at home that a child develops to his full potential. He believes in life skills like public speaking and that every individual, if sensitized to the environment, human and natural, and given opportunities will become a leader in his/her own field.
He has been teaching and managing in secondary schools such as Jiangsu and Beijing in China. He served as the director of the Haidian District Education Committee in Beijing. In 2018, he served as the principal of Beijing 101 Middle School, and concurrently served as member of the Standing Committee of the Haidian District Political Consultative Conference, deputy director of the science-education-culture-health Committee of the Haidian District Political Consultative Conference, and director of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation.
Principal Lu has rich experience in middle school education management and mathematics teaching. He has published many papers in China’s core journals, participated in the preparation of new Chinese high school mathematics textbooks, and presided over many provincial and municipal research projects. He was awarded the honorary title of Beijing Excellent Teacher and National Model Teacher.
Born in 1961, Mr. Zheng is a Professor of Statistics. He graduated from the Department of Computer Science, Fudan University in 1983. Since then, he has taught in the Department of Statistics at Fudan University. In 1995, he was promoted to the Vice Director of the department. In 1999, Professor Zheng served as Associate Provost of the Dean’s Office in Fudan, and he also held the position of Director for Fudan’s Admission Office from 2002.
Since September 2009, he has worked as Principal of the High School Affiliated to Fudan University, and he is also the Vice President of Shanghai Statistical Association. Since February 2016, he serves as the President of Shanghai Municipal Educational Examinations Authority.
His academic research’s main focus is on the service quality control and financial risk control. He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Tulane University.
Session: Talking Heads – Lessons on Leadership
In this session seven different heads of WLSA schools around the world will share a short lesson they feel will benefit the room – sharing insights as to what leadership can sometimes require, and sometimes look like given it can – by necessity – be a “lonely” place.
:Headmaster
:Groton School (USA)
