Bill Wharton brings over thirty years of experience in collaborative leadership of outstanding schools and institutions.
As former Director of Admissions and Head of School at Boston’s Commonwealth School, he helped navigate a challenging transitional decade following the departure of the founder, building the institutional scaffolding, attracting outstanding people, and securing the resources needed to sustain excellence, establishing Commonwealth among the leading independent schools nationally. He bolstered enrollment, built substantial cash reserves, and oversaw a ten-million dollar renovation of the school’s Boston brownstone home while strengthening its commitment to diversity and faculty growth. In running a small school, Bill gained deep experience in all aspects of the organization–outreach and marketing, development, facilities and financial management, Board development and planning, HR, curriculum, and DEI.
Following his tenure at Commonwealth Bill spent a year in Atlanta as Interim Head of School at The Schenck School, a K-6 independent school for dyslexic children. He concurrently served as Interim Executive Director of ReadSource, Schenck’s nonprofit affiliate that provides direct tutoring services to struggling readers from underserved backgrounds as well as teacher training in the Science of Reading. There he helped restore the collaborative ethos as the School emerged from two years of remote and hybrid learning, he started conversations to bring more focus and clarity to ReadSource’s mission and aims, and working closely with the Board, he helped lay the groundwork for the strategic planning process that awaited his successor.
Bill’s career also includes serving as Director of an overseas study program for American college students, coordinator of an annual conference of independent school Heads hosted by Stanford’s Online High School, and President of a small Boston-area meditation center. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from Brown University.
LinkedIn: Bill Wharton