KO - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Middle School English Teacher
Middle School English teacher Anastasia Sullo discusses student equity and what "success" looks like in the classroom.
Brenda is proud to be a faculty member at KO since 1982! She studied in Mexico and Spain and enjoyed her experience living with families there. She also traveled to Venezuela and Isla Margarita and organized the KO Venezuelan exchange program with the Avila and Guayamuri Schools and to Paraguay with Team TobatÃ. She taught Spanish for four summers in Salamanca, Spain, with the TASIS program, and for eight more summers, was the assistant to the director for that same program, responsible for all the daily living experiences of the students. She particularly enjoyed many years as a coach of the KO FTC Robotics Team from its humble beginning to KO's part as FIRST Robotics Affiliate Partner for all of Connecticut. For the past six years, she has been the KO archivist and loves learning about KO's history, meeting with alumni, and preserving KO's extensive archive collections. Her son, Matthew, graduated from the Class of 2005. She loves traveling, reading, her three cats, and spending time with her family.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Admissions / Boston University
Danielle is an inviting new face to the Admissions department. Before working at KO, she was the program coordinator at The Learning Center at Central Connecticut State University. There, she was responsible for the student development and academic support program dedicated to students of color. She created programming to increase a feeling of belonging and a sense of community on campus and served as a liaison for families in need of assistance with athletics, financial aid, and counseling. Her additional experiences include ten years as a principal attorney in a local law firm based in Manchester.
Job Titles:
- Director of Institutional Advancement / New York University
Prior to assuming the role at Kingswood Oxford as the Director of Institutional Advancement, Plapler served as the executive director for Connecticut and western Massachusetts and senior advisor mission advancement for the American Heart Association. Prior to that, she was the vice president of development and alumni relations at UConn Health. She also held key positions at numerous local non-profits and served as an adjunct professor at Bay Path College in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. She earned a B.S degree cum laude from New York University and a J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law School and practiced law for several years prior to her move to non-profit administration. She and her husband, Earl McMahon, live in West Hartford and have two adult sons.
Job Titles:
- Director of Enrollment Management / George Washington University
Susan started her career as a teacher of English as a foreign language at a private school in Taiwan. She went on to start an independent educational consulting business, where she guided students from China and Taiwan through the application process for boarding schools, undergraduate colleges, and graduate programs in the United States. After obtaining her doctorate in education, she helped establish a new boarding school in downtown Los Angeles where she was responsible for recruiting students from around the world.
Elizabeth is a dyed-in-the-wool Wyvern. She graduated from the school, married a fellow Wyvern, and four of her children attended the school. She's always been involved with KO in some capacity, even while she worked for a time at her father's, Thomas Fahy, Class of 1955, insurance company. Whether she was a class agent, member of the alumni council, president of the Alumni Association, or ex-offico member of the Board of Trustees, Elizabeth gives KO her all. She truly cares about the community. In 1999, she joined the development office and worked in alumni and parent relations, special events, and the business office. She spends as much time as she can with her family, needlepoints, and explores the Cape.
Since graduating in 1990, Frances did a little bit of learning and moving before coming home to KO. She spent several years teaching in Bangor, ME, and Lake Placid, NY before joining the family business by becoming the fourth generation of van Huystee cigar tobacco brokers. Coming back to work with alumni and parents is a dream opportunity, made only better by watching KO become "home" to her children, Els, Jane, and Jack, all current KO students.
Job Titles:
- Enrollment Office Assistant / Wesleyan University
Hope graduated from Miss Porter's School and earned her bachelor's degree in English at Wesleyan University. She began her KO career in May 2019 as a data specialist on the Advancement team. She also served as the interim Middle School coordinator twice and, most recently, interim College Counseling Office coordinator. In addition to these KO experiences, Hope brings over two decades of nonprofit administration and management experience in New York, Arizona, and Los Angeles. Her guiding philosophy throughout her career has been that "every touchpoint with another person is an opportunity to create, grow, and strengthen a relationship."
Job Titles:
- Director of Leadership Giving / Syracuse University
Jayne spent the early part of her career in front of the camera working as a reporter/anchor for WTNH Channel 8. She said, "I enjoyed writing and connecting people to my reporting. In Advancement, I believe I have much the same mission by connecting alumni, parents, grandparents and community members to KO in a way that is meaningful to them - in essence, allowing them to tell their story." Jayne spends much of her free time watching her three children play soccer and tennis. She loves being active, enjoys yoga, running and the beach.
Job Titles:
- Director of Annual Giving / University of Rhode Island
- Employee of the Walt Disney Company
As a former employee of the Walt Disney Company, Meghan learned her craft well. She is the perfect person to work in our Advancement Office with a winning combination of warmth and professionalism for ten years. Outside of work, Meghan paints and hikes with her best buddy, her dog, Charlie.
Melissa is a graduate of Westfield State University. Prior to coming to KO, she worked as the database manager for Avon Old Farms School. Melissa lives in West Hartford with her husband and three children. She enjoys reading, warm weather, and spending time with her family.
Job Titles:
- Upper School English Teacher
Upper School English teacher Michelle Caswell discusses the Warren Baird Symposium program and how this supports the student-centered experience and her own passion for the English language.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate Director of Admissions and International Student Coordinator / Saint Joseph 's University
Michelle has over 15 years of experience at the collegiate level, working both in the field of admissions of international students as well as with domestic college students wishing to study abroad, with tenures at varied institutions throughout the U.S., such as St. Joseph's University, (PA), Indiana University, Trinity College (CT) and Goodwin College. She holds a bachelor's degree in Politics from Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia and a master's degree in college personnel and higher education administration from Indiana University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate Director of Admissions / the College of Wooster
Rebecca joined the Kingswood Oxford Admissions team in July 2007. She developed a love for the world of Admissions back as a college student volunteering in the Office of Admission at her alma mater, The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio where she earned a B.A. in Sociology and was a four-year member of the women's lacrosse team. Rebecca works closely with KO's Middle School and heads up Shield & Dragon, KO's student ambassador program. Other interests of hers include skiing, tennis, cooking, and traveling. Rebecca grew up living in eight towns among four states, and some of her fondest memories were from their days raising llamas. She lives with her husband and their two children in West Hartford.
Tom joined the KO community from Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he was the assistant head of school and the head of the upper school for six years. Before his tenure at Shorecrest, Tom held several positions of increasing responsibility at the Lawrenceville School. First and foremost, he was a teacher at Lawrenceville; he also served as the head of one of the residence houses, was the founding director of Lawrenceville's highly regarded summer program, and redesigned the Humanities curriculum. A lifelong educator and scholar, Tom holds his undergraduate degree in Government and History from Georgetown University and a Master's degree in International and European Politics from the University of Edinburgh.
In his educational philosophy statement, Tom stated, "The end goal for our students is to create life-long learners who are respectful of others, capable of challenging their prior assumptions when confronted with better evidence to the contrary, yet steadfast when it comes to tackling a problem that seems insurmountable. They should be wary of the treacherous effects of entitlement and recognize that success should not be measured by how much they acquire or consume, but the extent to which they give back to their communities and make a difference."
Tom attended high school in Austria and Germany. Spurred by his international background, his interest in history, government, and international affairs led him to Georgetown University. A true scholar-athlete, Tom was also a stand-out soccer player at Georgetown. After college, Tom began a career in finance but was drawn toward education and became a faculty member at The McCallie School. This began a career spanning more than two decades in teaching, coaching, and academic leadership at various schools, giving him exposure to diverse cultures and experiences.