MCMILLAN EDUCATION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman, College Planning Practice
As Chair of the College Planning Practice at McMillan Education, Amy's leadership of the firm's team of college counselors embodies her love of leveraging the college planning process to help students discover their own personal strengths, passions and interests. In addition to her leadership role, Amy continues to work directly with a small group of students and families in college and graduate program planning. A highly experienced educational counselor, she skillfully guides both our team of college counselors and the students with whom she works directly to use that process of emerging self-understanding as the foundation on which students identify the educational learning environment where they will thrive. In close coordination with McMillan Education's leadership team, Amy is responsible for designing a robust professional development curriculum for our college counseling team as well as overseeing its daily operations and resources development. Amy brings her discernible warmth and signature active listening to her work with everyone - colleagues, students and families alike. In addition to her college and graduate program admission expertise, Amy enjoys helping young adults sort through options after college, and has guided them towards a variety of graduate school options, including business, law and medical school. She also finds working with transfer students extremely fulfilling.
While Amy brings over 15 years as a college counselor in independent schools to her work guiding McMillan Education families, her experience encompasses knowledge of the distinctive opportunities and complexities posed by a wide range of college- and graduate school-bound students, from the high achieving traditional student to the student with learning differences. Amy is also an expert in college counseling with international students being educated abroad who come from all over the world and are seeking university placement in both U.S. and international colleges. In addition to serving as director of the college counseling offices at Dexter Southfield School and Chapel Hill Chauncy Hall School in the Greater Boston area, Amy spent eight years as a college counselor and English teacher in London at TASIS, The American School in England. She also held the positions of English teacher, coach and dorm supervisor at Culver Academies in Culver, Indiana and English teacher at Stratford Academy in Macon, Georgia. Amy's day and boarding school experience as a teacher and administrator informs her work in counseling students towards the educational fit that best fits their interests, strengths, passions and needs.
Amy earned her bachelor's degree in English and Spanish from Washington and Lee University and a master's degree in English from Middlebury College. She enjoys drawing on her extensive training and background as a teacher of Literature and writing as she guides students through the process of crafting meaningful and powerful essays for college applications.
Amy and her husband, also an educator who teaches at an independent school, live in the Worcester area and are kept busy by their three young children. In addition to spending time with her family, Amy loves reading, crafts, yoga and spending time on the beach on Cape Cod in her spare time.
Job Titles:
- Professional Outreach Specialist & Manager, Owl Boarding School Guide
Betsy is the first point of contact for most of our McMillan Education families. As our Professional Outreach Specialist, Betsy brings her knowledge of child, adolescent, and young adult development and admissions to the critical role she plays in learning about students' goals and needs and helping families understand how our wide variety of educational planning services may assist them. Among the countless other tasks she performs for McMillan Education, Betsy interfaces with the over 130 schools we work with annually, while also managing McMillan Education's Owl Boarding School Guide website. Everyone lucky enough to run across Betsy deeply appreciates her authentic warmth, genuine student-focused mindset, and kind and compassionate professionalism.
Betsy first became acquainted with McMillan Education as an intern while still a college student. She fell in love with the work then, seeing a seamless connection between her passion for and training in education and psychology and the world of admissions. As a result, following graduation she went on to serve as an admission counselor at The Dexter Southfield School, a Boston area K-12 independent day school, where she enjoyed building strong relationships with prospective students and families undertaking the admission process. In addition to admissions, Betsy loved her work in student life, where she had the opportunity to connect with students as an advisor, on the playing field, and on the daily bus trip to and from school. Now back at McMillan Education, Betsy employs her experience of the admission process at Dexter Southfield to support McMillan Education students and families engaged in their own best fit educational search.
Betsy earned her bachelor's degree in educational studies and sociology from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. While at Colby, Betsy was deeply immersed in developing herself as an aspiring educator, taking on community service roles in tutoring and assisting local students involved in college readiness and preparation programming.
A native of the Metrowest area of Greater Boston, Betsy lives in downtown Boston, where you can find her taking long walks while listening to podcasts in her spare time. She also loves to cook, which she learned from her grandmother who was fond of saying, "If you can read, you can cook!"
Bill brings to McMillan Education decades of experience in admissions and teaching in schools and camps serving elementary, middle, and high school-aged students. Truly a renaissance man, Bill works with a wide range of students of all ages, and various abilities, interests, and challenges. His deep knowledge and appreciation for...
Job Titles:
- Chairman, School Planning Practice
As Chair of the School Planning Practice at McMillan Education, Carolyn's leadership of the firm's team of school admission counselors is informed by her extensive experience as an admission professional in the independent day and boarding school world. Widely respected by colleagues throughout the field for her student-centered guidance and admission practices, Carolyn's leadership embodies McMillan Education's school planning process' developmental and best-fit grounding. In close collaboration with McMillan Education's leadership team, Carolyn is responsible for designing a robust professional development curriculum for our school counseling team as well as overseeing its daily operations and resources development. Carolyn is deeply committed to ensuring that the team remains ahead of changes in the dynamic field of independent school educational and admissions practices. Known for her combination of unrivaled professionalism and genuine personal warmth, Carolyn also continues to work directly with a small number of students from pre-kindergarten through the college undergraduate years. At the top of the learning specialist field, Carolyn works with students who have moderate to significant learning challenges and with all types of young learners looking for the best school match in the primary and elementary school years.
Carolyn comes to McMillan Education after a long tenure as Director of Admission at Landmark School in Beverly, Massachusetts, the internationally renowned school for children and adolescents with language-based learning disabilities. Her distinguished career as a learning specialist began after earning her bachelor's degree in English Literature at the University of Connecticut. She taught English and remedial reading at Saugus High School in Saugus, Massachusetts before turning to a concentration in special education. Following the completion of her master's degree in Special Education at Northeastern University, Carolyn returned to Saugus to teach special education at the elementary level. Carolyn's gifts were quickly noticed as she moved to Special Education Coordinator at Bagnall Elementary School in the Pentucket Regional District of Massachusetts, where she taught, conducted educational assessments, developed IEPs, oversaw the provision of all aspects of special education services, and developed the first integrated preschool program in the district. She then moved into the director position of special education k-12 of the whole of the Ipswich School District of Massachusetts.
In addition to her work as a teacher, administrator, and admission professional, Carolyn has enjoyed sharing her expertise in learning differences through her work as an adjunct professor of special education in the graduate schools at Simmons College and Lesley University, where she taught educational assessment, identifying learning disabilities, and instruction and assessment methodologies for students with learning differences and disabilities. She has also been a co-author of an article on reading published in the New Mexico Journal of Reading.
Carolyn's expertise lies in the areas of assessment and identification of learning disabilities and an in-depth understanding of neuropsychological evaluations and the application of their findings to educational interventions, programs, and settings. Her teaching and administrative experience inform her deep understanding of language-based and non-verbal learning disabilities as well as deficits in executive functioning, processing, and attention.
Carolyn, along with her husband, lives outside of Boston and is the mother to two daughters. In her free time, Carolyn loves being in the outdoors. She is an avid hiker, kayaker, gardener and reader.
Chris uses his extensive experience as a clinical social worker, therapist, teacher, and school administrator to guide students with a wide range of needs and abilities to the best educational or therapeutic fit. Working with students from the middle school years through young adulthood, Chris counsels those who are facing academic, emotional and/or behavioral challenges that have interfered with their school success, healthy social development and ability to actualize their full potential. Chris' expertise in both the academic and therapeutic realms allows him to identify schools, colleges, and therapeutic programs where students will discover the support or treatment that effectively addresses their needs and allows them to heal, gain confidence, and begin to thrive. As a former professional hockey player and avid outdoorsman, Chris also enjoys working with athletes in any phase of their educational planning journey.
Chris' deep knowledge of the needs and potential of the whole student is rooted in his wide-ranging experience in traditional day and boarding schools and therapeutic programs. His career in education began as a "triple threat" faculty member at The New Hampton School in New Hampshire, where he taught history, coached and supervised students in the dorm. He also created and implemented New Hampton's outdoor experiential education program, a passion that would lead him to relocate to Utah, his now permanent home, and work in the field of adventure, experiential and wilderness therapy. Chris served in a number of roles at The Oakley School, a co-ed therapeutic boarding high school in Oakley, Utah, from classroom teacher and Student and Residential Life Director to wilderness counselor and clinician. Chris then went on to use his knowledge of students, families, teaching and curricula, faculty professional development, and school systems as a school leader and administrator. He served as Assistant Head and Middle School Director at Park City Day School in Park City, Utah and as Assistant Head of School Programs and Services at Wasatch Academy in Pleasant, Utah. Chris is also a therapist and continues to work with adolescents in his private practice.
Chris' natural warmth and great sense of humor immediately put his students at ease. His understanding of the inner-workings of schools and therapeutic programs informs Chris' process of finding the best fit for his McMillan Education students. Likewise, Chris' work with college-bound students for over 20 years as an educator and clinician has helped him add a reassuring and personal touch to the process of guiding high school students and young adults toward colleges, post-secondary and transitional programs where they find the unique environment, programs and support they need to be successful.
Chris attended Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in sociology and human relations at Connecticut College, where he also played ice hockey and served as captain of his collegiate team. After playing professional hockey in Germany, Chris returned to the U.S. and pursued his certificate in secondary education at Kalamazoo College before beginning his teaching career. Chris later earned his master's degree in Social Work at The University of Denver and completed the Chemical Dependency Counseling Program at The University of Utah.
A native of Michigan, Chris remains a diehard Red Wings fan. He is the proud dad of two young boys, Liam and Finn. Chris lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, and works closely with our Boston office to serve McMillan Education families from all over the U.S. and around the world. If Chris isn't spending his free time playing with his boys, you can be sure to find him skiing, hiking, camping, biking, or fishing in the Rocky Mountains' beautiful rivers and lakes.
Don brings over 30 years' experience as a passionate educator to his work overseeing McMillan Education's leadership team and the counselors working in traditional and international school and college planning. In close collaboration with his leadership team, Don enjoys staying out ahead of admission trends and continually enhancing the best guidance practices of the group by developing and delivering regular in-house supervision and professional development trainings. In addition to the leadership of his group of highly experienced educational counselors, Don is considered a leader in the field. Frequently quoted in national outlets like The New York Times and The Boston Globe, Don has spoken about trends in American college admissions and American boarding schools to audiences of educators at national conferences, independent school Boards of Trustees, and international schools on several continents, bringing to his presentations the same commitment to students that he brought to his years teaching and leading in independent schools.
Don has also served on executive boards for The Association of Boarding Schools and the Enrollment Management Association (formerly SSATB); he is a past Vice President of the Independent Educational Consultants' Association, the industry's governing body and provider of professional development, training, and guidelines for ethical practices.
His independent school career began at Kimball Union Academy in NH in the late 80s, then brought him to St. Mark's School in Southborough, Mass. in the 90s, and finally to the Bancroft School in Worcester, Mass 1997-2010. As a teacher, Don taught freshmen through Advanced Placement French and English students. As an administrator, he served as College Counselor, Academic Dean, Curriculum Director, and English Department Chair, and trained faculties at several schools in learning differences as a facilitator for All Kinds of Minds.
Outside of the classroom, Don was head coach of Varsity teams in football, ice hockey and tennis. He ran several dorms with his wife, Dr. Sarah McMillan, who manages McMillan Education's therapeutic and learning differences practices. Their own two sons attended boarding school and went on to study in college in Boston. Noah played Division I football and studied at Holy Cross and Tufts, and currently serves as McMillan Education's Director of Outreach and Communication, while Cameron worked at Wolfeboro School and Holderness School and is currently serving as a second lieutenant in the Army National Guard, having completed his ROTC program at Boston University.
The roots of Don's school career trace back to the late 70s; when, at the age of 14, he went to St. George's School in Newport, RI as a boarding student. He went on to Colby College, graduating with degrees in French and English, and captaining the men's tennis team. He later went on to earn a Master's in French from Middlebury College and Université de Nanterre Paris X, writing his thesis in French on Albert Camus' role in the Résistance. Having lived and studied abroad, Don speaks French fluently, and understands the complexities of presenting applications for international students and domestic students with goals of studying abroad.
Don also earned a Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Goddard College. His Goddard thesis was chosen as a finalist for the James Jones First Novel Contest, and his short stories won several other awards. Don also worked as a journalist in Maine right after college. This lifelong commitment to letters as both a writer and a teacher of writing informs his hands-on guidance with McMillan Education students as they navigate the essay writing process in their applications.
Don enjoys playing tennis and golf and following the Red Sox, Patriots and Bruins. His now adult sons gave Don a first-hand appreciation of the recruiting process for a collegiate student-athlete and the ROTC experience for a cadet who went on to commission as a field artillery officer in the US Army. Along with Sarah and their canine companions Crash and Socrates, Don splits his time between their homes and offices in Boston and southern Maine (SoMe), especially loving the chance to blend in as a local Mainer whenever he can pull it off. Don has also dusted off his beret to volunteer to teach French each spring to a wonderful group of inspirational under-resourced young adolescents at Beacon Academy in Boston.
Job Titles:
- CEO / Developmental Psychologist
Along with husband Don, Dr. Sarah McMillan manages the team of McMillan Education counselors. In close collaboration with the practice's leadership team, Sarah enjoys continually enhancing the best guidance practices of the group by developing and delivering regular in-house supervision and professional development trainings focused on education and child, adolescent and young adult development. Sarah's experience and expertise as a long-time educator and psychologist align with her role as supervisor of the McMillan Education counselors working directly with the families and students who have a wide range of educational and developmental needs, particularly those with learning differences and emotional and behavioral challenges. Sarah and her team work across the educational continuum with these students in school, college, transfer, and therapeutic planning. She also spends a great deal of time developing and enhancing the practice's technology, systems of service delivery and resources to ensure that all McMillan Education guidance is grounded in the educational and developmental philosophy that informs all of its work with families.
A teacher and administrator at both the college and independent school levels for over 25 years, Sarah held multiple positions in education and counseling during her career. Prior to McMillan Education, Sarah was Upper School Head at The Fay School, Director of Studies and Dean of Students at Boston University Academy, English Chair at St. Mark's School, and English teacher, coach and dorm head at St. Mark's School and Kimball Union Academy. Sarah's educational planning practice and managerial goals are founded on her professional experience supervising or working in admissions and college counseling offices in each of her school roles.
Her longtime work developing curricula, school programs, and faculty professional development initiatives that meet the needs of local, national, and international students of a wide range of interests and abilities led Sarah to become a regular and sought-after speaker on a variety of educational topics at local and national professional conferences. In addition, Sarah's training in psychology and experience in building successful school-based counseling programs has led to her repute as a consultant in developmental school guidance and counseling programs. It is also the foundation on which she provides counseling to students with emotional developmental, or learning challenges.
Sarah is a graduate of St. George's School. She then attended Colby College, where she earned her bachelor's degree in English and was a collegiate athlete and team captain. She also holds a master's degree in English and history from Boston College and a doctoral degree in developmental and counseling psychology from Boston University. Sarah taught English at Boston College and has been an adjunct member of the clinical faculty at Boston University, teaching graduate-level courses in child and adolescent development, educational assessment and intervention, and young adult vocational and identity development. While at Boston University's School of Education, Sarah gained experience in the graduate-level admissions' evaluation process.
Sarah and her husband, Don, have spent time living abroad and continue to love travel. Along with Don and their two sons, Noah and Cameron, Sarah is an avid sports fan. Their now adult sons have provided Sarah and Don ample direct experience as parents of independent day and boarding school students and as parents of a recruited collegiate student-athlete and an Army ROTC cadet who went on to commission as a US Army field artillery officer. Along with their constant canine companions Crash and Socrates, Sarah and Don split their time between their homes and offices in Boston and southern Maine. When not working or taking long walks with her pups, Sarah is an avid reader of history and philosophy, a regular at the gym and a Spartan warrior whenever she can fit in a race.
Sarah McMillan's shared professional journey has been fed by their mutual love for working with children, adolescents and young adults. It has also become the cornerstone of the core values and set of professional practices that place students and their families at the center of McMillan Education's work.
Their 30+ years of marriage and experience shepherding a pair of sons through independent day and boarding schools, on to college and into professional life have confirmed Don and Sarah's conviction that education is at the core of the healthy development and fulfilled potential of every child, adolescent and young adult. This developmental approach to education is shared by every one of the educational experts Don and Sarah have brought on to their team.
As a group of educational counselors, McMillan Education is a family of families. Don and Sarah have deliberately recruited counselors who share their educational philosophy, are at the top of the field, and have been their most trusted and highly esteemed colleagues at some point during their long educational careers.
Drew brings an extensive background in admission and educational planning in independent schools to his work with students of diverse backgrounds in the school and college planning process. His deep knowledge of the particular challenges and opportunities facing international students who are looking to reap the significant benefits of an American education is also an enormous asset to his McMillan Education families.
A native of California, Drew holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Pepperdine University and a master's degree in education from The University of Southern California. He began his teaching career in Torrance, California, focusing on elementary and middle school education. He then moved east to The Fay School in Southborough, Massachusetts, to take on diverse responsibilities, including teacher of mathematics, English, and English as a Second Language, Director of Residential Life, Director of the International Student Program at Fay, and secondary school educational planning counselor. His expertise in international student curriculum and the intricacies of the admission process has made Drew a sought-after speaker at professional conferences.
An accomplished athlete in his own right, Drew spent many years as a successful soccer and wrestling coach at both the developmental and competitive varsity levels. He has also coached basketball, skiing and lacrosse. His love of sailing and notable achievements as a competitive sailor led him to the role of Sailing Master at the Stage Harbor Yacht Club in Chatham, Massachusetts, where he grew up sailing during summers. Drew remains an avid sailor and continues to compete in regattas whenever he has the opportunity.
Drew has also spent considerable time abroad in Asia and in Europe, including living for a time in both Japan and France. He credits his deep knowledge of international students' U.S. educational planning opportunities and challenges to remaining current in international education and culture.
Drew has ample personal experience navigating the admission process as the parent and step-parent of three daughters, two in independent school and the other a college graduate. Drew enjoys spending time on Cape Cod with his family.
Edith enjoys working with students of all ages, from pre-kindergarten through college, in school, college and academic and developmental crisis planning. Her range of experiences throughout her career as an educator positions her well to guide the adolescent searching for the best college fit, the child looking for the right day or boarding school fit, and the student facing a developmental crisis.
Prior to joining McMillan Education from The Park School in Brookline, Massachusetts, Edith worked as a learning specialist in the academic support program and a secondary school counselor in next school placement. While at The Park School, Edith enjoyed providing academic support to students with mild to more significant challenges in reading, attention, executive functioning and processing. She also used her expertise in learning styles to inform her guidance of students and families through the secondary school placement and college process.
Edith is a graduate of St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. She went on to earn her bachelor's degree in American Studies and Educational Studies at Trinity College, where she was also a collegiate athlete. Edith particularly enjoys coaching high schoolers through drafts of their college essays to support their pursuit of liberal arts colleges.
She is uniquely qualified to guide students facing emotional, behavioral, or learning challenges. She completed her mental health and counseling training at Simmons College School of Social Work in Boston, where she earned her master's degree in Social Work. Edith's experience as a clinical social worker includes counseling in both educational and hospital settings. Edith has been the Director of Mental Health Counseling Services at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, where she both provided direct counseling services to college students and oversaw the entire counseling staff and program. At The Madison Park High School Collaborative in Boston, Edith provided individual, group and family therapy to Madison Park High School students and their families. While working as a counselor at Newton South High School's therapeutic alternative high school program, she counseled students facing substance abuse issues, chronic school failure, and behavioral difficulties. In Newton-Wellesley Hospital's Department of Psychiatry and New England Medical Center's Department of Social Work, Edith held a number of positions working with young people presenting with a wide range of emotional and behavioral challenges, including but not limited to mood disorders, eating disorders, trauma, dual diagnoses, family systems issues, and developmental difficulties.
Edith and her husband live outside of Boston and are parents to three adult children who, all together, have navigated the opportunities and challenges of independent day and boarding schools, college, collegiate sports, and graduate school. In her free time, Edith loves to be active, cycling and competing in triathlons, and spending time in Vermont with her family. She is also an avid reader and dog lover.
Whiz brings her extensive "triple threat" boarding school experience to all aspects of her work in school and college planning. Having spent decades advising, nurturing, teaching, counseling, and coaching students in residential settings, Whiz's focus on the whole student and her related understanding of the positive effect of the best fit educational environment on the student is grounded in the deepest and most authentic firsthand experience. Whiz's families and students so appreciate her combination of purposeful professionalism, infectious warmth and natural enthusiasm for the well being of students that characterize her school and college planning guidance. Her depth and breadth of experience in all aspects of student life and admissions align with her passion for and commitment to working with a wide range of students, from the high achiever to the student who has experienced challenges along the way.
Whiz started her lifelong journey as an educator at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut. During her twelve-year tenure at Choate, Whiz immersed herself in virtually every aspect of school life. As an admission officer, she learned both the tradecraft of the admission process and the importance of pulling together a community of students whose primary role is to grow together. She also served as a form dean, dormitory head, classroom teacher of various courses, department chair of psychology and religion, advisor, and gymnastics coach. At St, Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts, Whiz took on one of the most challenging roles in boarding school life. As the Dean of Students, she oversaw all facets of residential and student life, and continued teaching and advising students and families. Whiz's final and longest boarding school stop of over 20 years was at St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Delaware, where she directed the counseling and wellness programs, coordinated closely with the college counseling office on college transition programming, counseled individual students, and trained faculty and staff. In all of her boarding roles, Whiz's student life work overlapped and aligned with admissions and college counseling.
Whiz earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and anthropology from Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She went on to earn a master's degree in
counseling from Harvard University's School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she also served as a teaching fellow and research assistant for some of the University's most well known scholars in the areas of adolescent and moral development.
Whiz's husband Jay, who remains a member of the St. Andrew's faculty, has served as school chaplain alongside Whiz throughout their shared boarding school journey. When they are not on the St. Andrew's campus, they enjoy spending time in their home in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, where you can catch Whiz reading, sewing, enjoying the outdoors, and hanging out with their adult son Jack, Newfundland Ajax, and cats Fig and Widget.
Heather's enthusiasm for working with students in the school and college planning processes is palpable. She embodies that rare combination of impressively deep and extensive experience in admission expertise and genuine down-to-earth, natural connectivity with kids and parents. Heather has one of those warm, upbeat, friendly personalities that immediately puts her students at ease. And when she isn't bringing a sense of fun and adventure to her work, she is known by her colleagues and families alike to be that calm in the storm the admission process inevitably causes. Heather enjoys working with a wide range of students with differing academic and extracurricular interests, including the student-athlete looking to compete at the collegiate level and students who share her passion for community service.
While Heather is a consummate "school person," she started her career in college admission at the college level. Heather held the positions of Associate Director of Admission at Dickinson College and Assistant Director of Admission at Gettysburg College, where she also coached Softball. After working as a school counselor at the middle and secondary levels in public schools, Heather made the shift to the boarding and independent school worlds. At St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, Heather was the Associate Director of College Advising and also served on the admission committee, where she learned the intricacies of the school admission process that she now brings to her work with McMillan Education families engaged in their best fit school search. Her "triple threat" role as a dormitory supervisor, coach, and educator was a perfect fit for her commitment to advocating for the whole student, the first of our core values here at McMillan Education. Heather went on to direct the college counseling office at The Potomac School in McLean, Virginia, where she continued to build her relationships with college admission offices and remained focused on bringing her whole-student focus to her independent day school work.
Heather earned a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Franklin and Marshall College and a master's degree in counseling from The University of Vermont, where she concentrated in school counseling. She has been active in community service throughout her education and career, enjoying work with the homeless, in land conservation, and teaching children to swim in her spare time.
Heather and her husband Jeff are parents of two young adults and live in the lakes region of New Hampshire. When she is not working, she doesn't much slow down. Heather loves everything outdoors, most especially hiking and being on her bike. She's a big Red Sox fan, loves to travel, and is always looking to learn something new. Be sure to ask her black lab Opie how her guitar lessons are going!
Job Titles:
- Educational Counselor
- Director of College Counseling at Dana Hall School in Wellesley
A seasoned admission and college counseling expert, Jacquie brings her signature warmth and humor to her work with a wide range of students, from the high achiever to the learning challenged, seeking personalized and hands-on guidance in the college planning process. In addition to her unrivaled knowledge of the ever-evolving admission landscape and technical features of a successful college search, Jacquie's work with students is informed by her supportive nature and training as a school counselor and social worker. When not working in the more traditional realm of educational planning, Jacquie relishes the opportunity to restore hope to her students whose educational path has been disrupted by emotional and behavioral challenges as she brings her clinical knowledge to the therapeutic, developmental and academic crisis planning process. Jacquie also enjoys working with students looking for college transfer.
Jacquie joined McMillan Education following a long tenure as Director of College Counseling at Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In her oversight of the college counseling department, Jacquie ushered hundreds of students and their families through the college search process, managed and developed a staff of counselors, and contributed to regional and national professional associations' training of college counselors in best practices. While at Dana Hall, Jacquie also embraced the life of boarding school, serving as a student advisor, participating in the residential aspects of student life oversight, and working as a member of the Counseling Team devoted to supporting and monitoring students' overall health and wellbeing.
Jacquie's college counseling craft has been significantly influenced by her direct experience in college-level admission offices. Prior to her work at Dana Hall, Jacquie served as Assistant Director of Admission and then as Senior Associate Director of Admission at Boston University, where she managed domestic and international student recruitment, supervised a staff of admissions counselors, and oversaw a sizable portion of applicants in the admission decision-making process at the University's College of Arts and Sciences. Earlier in her career, she served as Assistant Director of Admission at The University of New Hampshire, where she traveled extensively for student recruitment and evaluated applicants for the College of Engineering. Jacquie also held the position of Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Affairs at The Pingree School in South Hamilton, Massachusetts.
Jacquie attended Wellesley College, earning a bachelor's degree in history. Driven by her interest in the whole student, she completed a master's degree in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in School Counseling at Lesley University. Building on her earlier clinical training, Jacquie later pursued an additional master's degree in Clinical Social Work at Boston College's School of Social Work, where she also completed residencies at McLean Hospital, Heritage Assisted Living, and Cape Cod Hospital.
Jacquie and her husband Phil live on Cape Cod and have a wonderful blended family of six adult children. In her spare time, she is an avid gardener, reader, book club enthusiast, and cook, especially of sinful desserts for family and friends.
Jamie enjoys working with students of all ages, from elementary school through college, who are taking either a traditional or non-traditional path on their educational journey. Jamie's extensive experience as an educator uniquely qualifies him for working with students with a wide range of skills, interests and abilities, from the gifted to the learning challenged, the accomplished athlete, artist or musician, or the student who has experienced some crisis or disruption to his or her educational path and requires a creative problem solving approach to educational planning.
During his 25 years as an educator, Jamie has showcased his breadth of knowledge and expertise in teaching as an instructor of English, history, geography, world religions, and math at the Bancroft School in Worcester, Massachusetts, St. Margaret's Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, California, and the Purnell School in Pottersville, New Jersey. More recently, Jamie was a mentor of teachers as the Dean of Faculty at the Hillside School, a school for boys with mild to moderate learning differences, outside of Boston. Jamie's expertise in admission practices comes through his collaboration with admission offices in the schools in which he has served. Jamie employs his outstanding skill as a teacher of writing in his exceptional work guiding students crafting their personal narratives in the application process. He is passionate about and exceptionally skilled at connecting students to their unique stories as a means of guiding them toward their best-fit schools and colleges.
A native of California, Jamie attended Corona del Mar High School, where he was student body president. He went on to attend Harvard University, where he concentrated his studies in The Comparative Study of Religion, played Division I Men's Varsity Tennis, and served as a peer counselor. Since his collegiate years, Jamie has served as the Head Tennis Professional during summers at the Tarratine Club of Dark Harbor, Maine, and been a highly successful tennis coach at the schools where he has served. He has also initiated and run robust community service programs for his students.
Jamie lives outside of Boston with his wife, Catherine, who is also an educator. He and Catherine are parents of a young adult daughter who is an aspiring musician and a young adult son teaching English as a Second Language in France. In his spare time, Jamie continues to play tennis, is passionate about health and wellness, and serves as a volunteer in a wide array of community outreach programs.
Kelly comes to us after spending the last 13 years managing a fast-paced real estate law office. Kelly oversaw all aspects of the office, fine tuning all areas so that the office would run efficiently and effectively. Kelly is extremely detail oriented and highly organized.
Kelly and her husband have spent the last 30 years at a private middle school outside of Boston. Kelly worked 12 years as the primary house parent for 7th/8th grade girl's dorm, and for the past 115 years her husband has been the primary house parent for 7th and 8th grade boys. Kelly's school experience does not stop there; at Hills and Falls Nursery School in Newton Lower Falls she was the Assistant Director, Lead Teacher and supervised student teachers for 12 years. During those summers Kelly worked as the head counselor for middle school children at Dexter Southfield School in Brookline.
The private school sector is a large part of Kelly's background, her younger siblings attended private middle, secondary, and college in the New England area. Kelly's husband attended private middle and secondary school and is currently a history teacher, dorm parent, and football coach.
Kelly is extremely family oriented, and loves spending time with her husband Bruce, daughters Paige and Piper, and their two Labradoodles Lucy and Maple, as well as her large extended family. She's a die-hard Red Sox and Patriots fan, loves reading, doing jigsaw puzzles, playing competitive board games and admits that she is a horrible cook.
Kelly comes to McMillan Education with decades of experience working with students and families in schools and private behavioral health programs. A highly skilled clinician, school counselor and admissions expert, Kelly enjoys working with children, adolescents and young adults whose learning, emotional, or behavioral challenges have become obstacles to their healthy development and educational progress. Whether it be a mainstream school or college with specific supports or a specialized learning or treatment environment designed to effectively address more robust challenges, Kelly guides students and families to settings that are uniquely suited to address the young person's particular struggles. Kelly enjoys using her keen assessment skills and creative and compassionate relational style to provide practical solutions and restore hope to middle school aged children, adolescents and young adults looking for healing and success.
As both a talented clinician and experienced educator, Kelly's background, training and professional values perfectly align with McMillan Education's whole-student and developmental focus. In her clinical work, Kelly has been a therapist in private practice, a school-based outpatient counselor, and a group, individual, and family therapist at partial hospitalization and residential treatment programs in Seacoast New Hampshire and southern Maine. Kelly has extensive experience working with a wide range of behavioral and emotional presentations and severity and has a deep knowledge of both multiple mainstream therapeutic modalities and holistic healing practices. She has also served as an outreach manager and admission representative for several private behavioral health programs specializing in recovery, complex mental health and dual diagnosis, and eating disorders.
In addition to her significant experience in the mental health field, Kelly's direct experience in schools makes her uniquely qualified to guide students for whom education has become a challenge as a result of learning and emotional obstacles. As a guidance counselor in a public high school in Berwick, Maine and as the Director of School Counseling at Fountain Valley School, a boarding school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Kelly developed comprehensive school counseling programs to support the healthy academic, emotional and social development of all students and provide appropriate crisis intervention. Her work in schools is the foundation of her understanding of learning differences and the interplay between neuro-cognitive profiles and emotional and behavioral challenges in children, adolescents and young adults.
Kelly is a native of northern California. She moved to southern New Hampshire in her senior year of high school and then attended Keene State College before earning her master's degree in social work at Boston College.
Kelly lives on the North Shore outside of Boston with her husband and son and their black lab Ruffles. She is an avid runner and fitness enthusiast, who also enjoys swimming, biking, going to the beach and anything outdoors.
As Chair of Innovation at McMillan Education, Kim embodies the firm's commitment to both anticipating and contributing to changes in the field that prioritize a strong student-centered experience and impact how our counselors best serve students and their families in the college and school planning processes. Kim works closely with her counterparts chairing our school and college planning practices to ensure that all counselors have access to and are trained in the most critical technological and best practices resources designed to facilitate students' successful navigation of the intricacies and complexities of finding their best fit educational environment. In close collaboration with members of the leadership team, Kim is devoted to working to create, enhance and develop the systems that continually better serve our families. Before joining McMillan Education, Kim guided students in their academic journeys as an educator, coach and administrator in schools and colleges for 25 years. In addition to her leadership responsibilities, Kim continues to work directly with a small number of school and college counseling candidates representing a wide range of domestic and international students seeking educational opportunities in the US or abroad, from the student-athlete to the traditional candidate
A former All-American athlete in two sports, Kim's successes athletically have been mirrored by a life-long passion for academia that is the cornerstone of the consummate student-athlete. Kim received her undergraduate degree in Journalism from the University of Maryland, a master's degree in Education from The College of William and Mary, and completed her doctoral work in Educational Leadership with a concentration in motivation and student well-being at Northeastern University.
In the independent school world, Kim served as an Athletic Director and advisor and wore the numerous hats of a boarding school faculty member at The Fay School in Massachusetts and Garrison Forest School in Maryland. In this role, she mentored students to be better in the classroom and as athletes through her experiences as coach and elite level strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS).
In the college world, she has served as an adjunct professor in kinesiology at The College of William and Mary, and in Sports and Organizational Leadership at both Northeastern in Boston as well as Ohio University. As a collegiate coach, Kim served on the All-America selection committee, NCAA Youth Education through Sports Program, as well as various other professional committees and boards. Kim has spoken at both national and international forums about student health and well-being.
Educational experts and fellow consultants turn to Kim as a national expert in athletic recruiting. Kim was an All-American and National Champion at the University of Maryland in both field hockey and lacrosse. After college, she went on to play for the US National Team in both field hockey and lacrosse, and in 2008 was inducted into the Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame.
Kim's love for sports did not fade once her playing days ended. She went on to coach field hockey and lacrosse at The College of William and Mary and later became the head lacrosse coach at the University of Richmond. She also served as the head coach of the Scottish Women's National Lacrosse Team. Kim's range of coaching positions also extends to middle school athletes and Special Olympians.
Kim remains active in all sports and enjoys her play in a local women's soccer league. She lives outside of Boston with her puppy, Coach, and enjoys travel, cooking, and innovative technologies.
Krista is another of McMillan Education's highly versatile counselors with deep experience in everything college and school planning and the added expertise of both U.S. colleges and independent schools as well as international schools and universities. Whether you are a U.S. citizen or an expat looking to pursue boarding school or university abroad or an international student interested in studying in the U.S. or other countries, Krista is a wealth of knowledge for your distinctive search. Living and working in schools in the heart of Europe for most of her adult life, Krista brings her warm smile, student-centered efficiency, and deep trove of knowledge to her work with McMillan Education students and families, unraveling for them the mysteries of the admission process for a wide range of schools and colleges in the U.S. and abroad.
Like all of the McMillan Education team, Krista's knowledge of education and, by extension, the admission process is informed by her student-centered experience teaching high school and middle school-level students. Beginning her career at Greenwich Country Day School in Greenwich, Connecticut, Krista taught Spanish and history for eight years. She then started what would become her permanent international post in Zurich, Switzerland, where she continued to teach history and Spanish and took on the role of University and Career Counselor at the Zurich International School. After close to a decade in Zurich, Krista moved to the International School of Geneva (Ecole Internationale, birthplace of the IB), where she was the school's University Counselor and a Class Dean, and continued to teach a wide variety of courses in the International Baccalaureate program. In addition to her impressive educational career, Krista has been a reader for the admission department of the University of California Los Angeles and is Head of Brown University Alumni Interviewing in Switzerland.
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Krista attended The Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts. She then earned a bachelor's degree in history from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and master's degree in Spanish from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. In addition to her native English, Krista speaks French, German, Spanish, and Swedish fluently.
Krista lives outside of Geneva, Switzerland with her husband Milan, a native of Switzerland. She travels frequently to the U.S. to see McMillan Education families, as well as her own family and friends. Her daughter, a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, is a nurse at a local Boston hospital and her son is an officer in the Swiss Army Special Forces. Krista loves to spend time with her family in the beautiful Swiss Alps. She also loves to sing and eat lobster in all its forms.
Job Titles:
- Educational Counselor / Athletic Recruiting
Nanny brings decades of experience as an educator and admissions expert in school and college planning to her work with McMillan Education students and families. Her mixture of personal warmth and enthusiasm for young people is obvious in the genuine relationships she builds as she guides students to discover their unique talents and interests through the educational planning process. She enjoys using her master's level training in counseling to destress the pressures students inevitably experience as they navigate the technical and emotional challenges of school and college planning and athletic recruiting. Nanny's background in the arts and athletics makes her an ideal educational counselor for students pursuing their creative passions and athletic goals at both the school and college level.
Nanny joined the McMillan Education team after gaining extensive experience as an independent educational consultant specializing in college counseling in the Greater Boston area. Her college counseling expertise has been informed by her work in admission at Northeastern University. Nanny's admission expertise also extends to the realm of independent schools. In addition to working in advancement at Pingree School in Hamilton, Massachusetts, she served in the admission office where she enjoyed interviewing students, meeting with families and contributing to the evaluative process of admission by committee. As a fierce student advocate, Nanny's commitment to education extended to her local charter school in Marblehead, Massachusetts, where she served as the Director of the Education Foundation and used her considerable skills in advancement, development, and grant writing to secure funds for educational programming.
A true renaissance individual, Nanny sees her love of both the arts and athletics as a means to connect with students and guide them as they travel their unique educational path. As a former Division I athlete in lacrosse and crew, Nanny has been a long-time coach of lacrosse in both school and league teams. In addition to lacrosse, Nanny has enjoyed coaching field hockey and cross country skiing at the high school level. She has also remained connected to her love of the arts by serving on the Board of the Marblehead Museum and Historical Society and through her work as a designer.
Nanny earned her bachelor's degree in art history from Dartmouth College and her master's degree in counseling from Lesley University.
Nanny lives on the North Shore of Boston with her husband and one "crazy" bengal cat, two golden retrievers and a rescue pup named Angus. When Nanny isn't working with students and families, you can find her boating, pursuing everything creative, and spending time with her family at her homes away from home on the lakes of New Hampshire and in Nantucket. Nanny is a parent of three now adult children who are former independent and boarding school students.
Job Titles:
- Marketing Director and Professional Outreach Specialist
Like all family businesses, the children of the proprietors are often conscripted into service and Noah was no different! So Noah comes to McMillan Education having experienced firsthand its multi-faceted work with families and students for many years. Over time, Noah's contributions to McMillan Education evolved from answering phones and greeting families to guiding students in the college application completion process and aiding in developing our comprehensive client privileged access to our W.I.S.E. Method Owl's Nest, a critical tool serving our families' educational planning needs. Noah now focuses on optimizing McMillan Education's communication and outreach efforts to families, schools, universities and therapeutic programs. He plays a critical role in the development and ongoing refinement of McMillan Education's educational planning online tools for students and families. He also continues to assist students in both the school and college application completion process.
Noah comes to McMillan Education most recently having worked as a Behavioral Health Professional for Pathways of Maine. In this role, he provided in home mental health support for low income families. This experience reignited his passion for finding the right educational and therapeutic environment for students.
Noah also has worked on a number of federal, state and local political campaigns in Massachusetts, where he combined his interest in the foundations and practices of democracy with his communications skills. He served as a social media consultant for a fitness company.
An enthusiastic contributor to McMillan Education's community service initiatives, Noah loves guiding Beacon Academy students, who are from under resourced families in the Greater Boston, in their journey from boarding school to college.
The consummate student-athlete and a product of the work that is at the core of McMillan Education's mission, Noah attended independent day and boarding schools over the course of his elementary, middle and secondary education. A graduate of Avon Old Farms School, much of Noah's early educational journey was influenced by his love for and talent in athletics. Prior to attending boarding school at Avon Old Farms, where he played football and lacrosse, Noah attended The Fay School and St. Sebastian's School, where he discovered his passion for Classical Studies and also played hockey. He began his undergraduate studies at The College of the Holy Cross, where he declared his major in Classics and played Varsity Football. After being medically sidelined from his Division I Football career at Holy Cross, Noah decided to transfer and ended up at Tufts University, where he graduated with a degree in Classical Studies with a concentration in political philosophy.
In his free time, Noah is an avid reader of ancient history and philosophy, an insatiable Boston sports fan, and an everyday listener to political and sports podcasts. He lives in York, Maine where he loves walking on the beach with McMillan Education's Chief Wisdom Officer, Socrates.
Rachel brings her wealth of experience as a special educator of students with a wide range of learning, emotional and behavioral challenges to her school and college planning work at McMillan Education. Families love working with Rachel because they are immediately taken by her combination of genuine warmth and consummate professionalism. Rachel considers herself on a mission to help students find the learning and social environments that both address their needs and allow them to experience success. Nothing has brought Rachel more satisfaction than hearing the transformational stories from her students and families after they've found their best fit educational or therapeutic environment.
A trained learning specialist, Rachel has deep experience working with students with a wide range of learning disabilities. Beginning her career at The Landmark School in Beverly, Massachusetts, the country's premier language-based learning disabilities program, Rachel taught across the language arts, skills and writing curriculum. She then went on to join the faculty at The Cedarhurst School operated by the Yale University School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry, where she worked closely with students with a wide range of learning and developmental challenges, including specified learning disabilities, attentional and executive deficits, and autism spectrum disorder. While at Cedarhurst, Rachel held various positions, including English teacher, College Counselor and Head of Curriculum Development. Cedarhurst's mission of serving students with emotional, behavioral and learning challenges supported by Yale's research and resources had an immeasurable impact on Rachel's professional understanding of the best interventions and treatments for this population of students while also widening her expertise to include assessing effective placements for students presenting with mental health impairments.
Rachel earned her bachelor's degree in professional writing at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. She then went on to complete her master's degree in special education at Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts. Rachel has also presented at professional conferences on behavioral issues in the classroom, worked in an afterschool program for young learners and provided individual tutoring for learning disabled students.
A native of Massachusetts, Rachel lives in the New Haven, Connecticut area with her husband Sean and their cats Walter and Murray. When not working, she enjoys anything outdoors: hiking, kayaking, biking, and camping in particular. She also loves listening to podcasts, riding her Peloton, and yoga. Rachel also happens to be the daughter of the amazing Carolyn Nelson, also a gifted learning specialist (it runs in the family!) and a treasured member of our team.
As CWO, Socrates has a busy daily schedule enlightening the McMillan Education team to the priorities of a well-educated, virtuous, happy life. Known by some as the philosophy dog, Socrates has his own brand of wisdom to share. For Socrates, the most important lessons to learn are kindness, affection, fun, and how to identify the fastest possible path to a treat. As our office exemplar of virtue, Socrates is the standard bearer of caring for others. His job is to make sure that everyone knows how much they are loved and valued and he excels at it. If you are even a bit down, a pat of his soft Old English Sheepdog coat and a glance at his one blue and one brown eye will return you to a place of inner contentment. If you need a good hug, Socrates will be the first to accommodate you even though he technically isn't supposed to get up on his hind legs. While he doesn't have a tail that can wag to signal his happiness, you know he is sharing his natural joy for life as soon as he greets you. He readily uses his Socratic method of inquiry anytime he is looking for a belly rub or treat.
Socrates is as good a student of life as he is a teacher. He has learned how to be a good friend and sweet, playful companion from his ever-present sidekick, Crash. Like Crash, Socrates likes time away from the office as much as the next hard worker. When not sleeping in front of the window, people watching, or attracting the attention of the curious passerby in the North End Boston office, he is enjoying the commute along Fisherman's Walk to the York, Maine office after a morning romp on the beach with the local pack of pups. He loves a good swim in the Atlantic, but the lack of a tail makes turning back for the beach after grabbing his ball a little more challenging than Crash's paddle. Never fear! Socrates' sweet, goofy demeanor means he takes every challenge in stride and keeps on smiling … a wise lesson all of us can benefit from!
Susanna most enjoys the close relationships with students and families she builds in her work in school and college planning. She relishes the privilege of helping parents of younger students just starting out on their independent school education understand the educational landscape; she derives a deep sense of fulfillment from guiding families toward that middle or secondary, day or boarding school environment where their child will thrive; and she loves being part of the college-bound student's process of self-discovery and self-articulation that are the foundation of the successful college planning journey.
Susanna has been in and around education most of her career. She has been a passionate advocate for literacy development in her work as Executive Director of Reach Out and Read, Rhode Island, where she has had a meaningful impact on the development of early reading skills at both a state and federal level. In addition to influencing the development of effective reading curriculum and programming in early education, Susanna led broader school strategic and institutional initiatives in her roles as Chair of the Board of Trustees at The Gordon School in Providence, Rhode Island, and as a board member for City Year Rhode Island, Andover Breadloaf, and Sophia Academy. Susanna's deep knowledge of independent schools derives in large part from her work as a placement counselor in the next school placement office at The Gordon School. Her school and college planning practices are enhanced by her extensive expertise in assessing all facets of the educational health of elementary, middle, secondary and higher education institutions, from curricular and extracurricular programming to institutional advancement and governance.
Outside of her career in education and through various roles in government, the private sector and non-profit organizations, Susanna spent many years using her considerable communication, marketing, and organizational skills to advance causes of social justice, enhance access to health care for children, women and families, and advocate for the preservation of our shared natural world.
Susanna attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts and earned her undergraduate degree from Brown University, where she studied history. She also holds a master's degree in liberal studies from Dartmouth College.
Mom to three daughters, Susanna has experienced the excitement and angst of the college and secondary school search processes firsthand! Susanna lives in Providence, Rhode Island with her husband and daughters. She loves spending time on Cape Cod boating or skiing in Vermont with her family. She is also an avid runner, yogi, and reader of memoirs.
Tony is the definition of a "school person," the highest compliment you can pay someone in the world of student-focused education. Simply put, Tony combines his incredible skill and experience as an admission expert in the worlds of college and school planning with his genuine desire to know and support all facets of a student's life. The depth and breadth of Tony's experience in a variety of roles in a wide range of schools over his career inform his deep school and college planning knowledge and uniquely position him to work towards the best fit educational environment for the student. Tony's enthusiasm for working closely with students along with his upbeat, optimistic nature that sees the strengths in every young person immediately puts students and families at ease as they navigate what can be a stressful and overwhelming admission process. In addition to the traditional school and college planning candidate, Tony enjoys bringing the full repertoire of his skills and knowledge to students engaged in the athletic recruiting process and international students looking to come to the U.S.
Tony's long history in the independent school world has both kept him young and given him the wisdom of someone who's been at his work a long time. Having traveled and studied extensively in Spain, Mexico, Ecuador and Guatemala, Tony brought his cultural and language learning to his passion for teaching. He loved his "triple threat" roles of teaching Spanish, coaching football, basketball and softball, and living in or running dormitories at Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey, The Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, and The Perkiomen School in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania. He added administrative roles to his "triple threat" role, including chairing the World Languages Department at Perkiomen and moving into college counseling work at Montclair Kimberley Academy in Montclair, New Jersey, where he was the athletic liaison for student-athletes looking to compete at the collegiate level. At The Perkiomen School and later at The Winchendon School's Winchendon, Massachusetts and New York City campuses, Tony ultimately served at the Director of College Counseling, overseeing college counseling associates, ushering countless students and families through the process, and cultivating relationships with college admissions professionals.
Tony is a graduate of Davidson College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Spanish. He completed his master's degree in Spanish at Middlebury College. He continues to travel whenever he can and loves the international aspects of his work here at McMillan Education.
Tony is a native of Ohio. He and his wife Laurie, also an educator, live on The Winchendon School campus with their enormous dogs Titan and JoJo and their less enormous cats Bran and Brie. They are parents to two young adults who share their parents' passion for other cultures. When Tony isn't being walked by his dogs, working or traveling, he is likely cycling or running - he hasn't met an endurance sport he doesn't like - or playing music. He's also an avid sports fan and concert-goer.