The Association for the Advancement of International Education (AAIE) hosted its 52nd annual Leadership Conference in New York City February 5th-7th, and the Search Associates presence was tremendous. Joining President Jessica Magagna were Founder John Magagna, Chief Operating Officer Rajiv Bhat, Webmaster Rob Snyder, Project Manager Gavin Hawk, Marketing Coordinator Tiffany Young, Senior Consultant Gunther Brandt and Senior Associates Ralph Jahr, Julie Ryan, David Cramer, Diana Kerry, and Brent Mutsch. The event, held at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, was themed Leaders United: Transforming Our World Together. Enormous growth in international education was reflected in the record-breaking attendance, about 650 participants, most of whom are leaders of international schools. Search Associates was honored to sponsor the opening welcome reception for all 2018 AAIE attendees at the United Nations (UN) headquarters, before they headed to the opening general session in the UN Delegates Hall.
The AAIE Leadership Conference not only offered sessions on recruiting, leadership, and the strengthening of board/head of school relationships, but it also offered brief Keynotes each morning and its annual Women’s Leadership Breakfast talk. CNN Anchor and Correspondent Isha Sesay gave an overview on current world challenges and future opportunities for international school leaders during this time in history. Homa Tavangar discussed her experience and research findings in her talk Up Your Impact as a Global Citizen Leader. She explored three key factors that can help foster authentic global citizenship to learn, thrive, and create leadership impact. Will Richardson, in his talk, Learning Unbound - The Opportunities and Challenges of Schooling in a Networked World, addressed a couple of key questions: What is the new value of schools in a world of increasingly abundant access [to digital information]? And how are educational leaders creating a path for re-imagination for schooling in the modern world?
This year’s Women’s Breakfast, hosted by International Schools Services and featuring guest speaker Homa Tavanger was, according to Senior Associate Julie Ryan, enriching and enjoyable. This interactive event, on the topic of Transformative Leadership for Transformative Times, inspired participants to consider their personal journeys that had taken them to this point, and how our transformative times call for a new model of leadership -- one which is more global, feminine, inclusive and abundant.
Another important feature of the conference was the session co-presented by Senior Associate Ralph Jahr and representatives from the agencies International School Services, Carney Sandoe & Associates, the Council for International Schools, and RG175. This panel spoke to international school administrators seeking either their first or a new head of school position. Ralph says,
“The session was well received and I think the five presenters enjoyed presenting the session. I hope it can be done again in the future.”
For many years, the AAIE conference has been a vital annual event for Search Associates to stay connected with member schools in various ways: learning about their hiring needs and any recruiting challenges they may face as well as getting feedback on what services we provide that are helpful, and what can we improve upon. In that vein, Search Associates was thrilled to officially launch its new service, APLi, to schools at the conference. APLi is a new, powerful recruitment tool that is included with a Search Associates membership. This new system will help our member schools better manage applications in one convenient location as well as provide powerful management and screening tools to make their recruiting more efficient and seamless. To start using this new service, please visit your Search Associates school dashboard and click on the link in the “APLi” box.
The AAIE Conference provided a great opportunity for Search Associates to collaborate with educational leaders around the world and offer our schools an inside look at our new, powerful recruitment service.
