The Valwood Board of Trustees announced today the selection of Tom Redmon and his firm, Carney, Sandoe and Associates, to work with us on the search for an interim headmaster and in due course our permanent headmaster.

Tom Redmon has two decades of experience as President of the Southern Association of Independent Schools based in Atlanta, where Tom is a longtime resident.  Tom's leadership of SAIS has allowed him to work with numerous schools in the Southeast and to build a large network within the region.  He is very familiar with Valwood having assisted with our school's recent SACS accreditation process.  Tom's remarkable resume and his experience as consultant to over 200 independent schools mainly in the Southeast are indicative of the exciting and successful search process ahead of us.

Carney, Sandoe and Associates has been retained by over 725 client schools to conduct successful executive searches for Heads and top administrators.  The search firm is responsible for the recruitment and placement of more professionals for independent school leadership and teaching positions than any other such firm in the country, and has been doing so for 30 consecutive years, longer than any other single firm.  Tom Redmon will be calling on his firm's extensive resources as he leads our search process.

Thanks to the generosity of several former trustees, much of the funding required for the search firm has been raised. This will enable the process of hiring an interim headmaster to begin immediately as the next few weeks are the optimum time for interviewing quality candidates.  The Search Committee will have the responsibility for choosing the interim. 

Tom will be visiting the school in the next few weeks to interview faculty, parents, the Board of Trustees, alumni and students.  These interviews will allow our school community the opportunity to have input on the qualities we want in our permanent headmaster.  You will be provided those dates as soon as they are finalized.

As Tom begins his work, there will be more information on our search process posted regularly on the Valwood website. In the meantime, please contact Terri Lupo, chair of the search committee at thlupo@southernco.com or Tom Gooding, chairman of the Valwood Board of Trustees at tomgooding@ebbglaw.com .