Headmaster Walter Johnson Announces Retirement

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I write to let you know I have decided to retire as Headmaster of Hackley School effective July 1, 2016. I do so confident that Hackley is in a place of exceptional strength as a school and as a community. We are fortunate to have a dedicated faculty, a distinguished Board of Trustees, an experienced administrative team, and supportive and engaged alumni and parents. Hackley is poised to become even stronger for new generations of students. We are in the planning stages for a new facility for health, physical education and athletics as well as for new faculty housing; our global educational programs are vibrant and growing through our membership in Round Square; our new programs in health and wellness are preparing our students even more effectively to lead lives of meaning and happiness.

All these are just new ways, as there will always be new ways, to pursue the ideal of our founders -- to help our students gain not only knowledge and skills, but the discipline of mind and heart we understand as wisdom. One of the challenges of retiring is that I find Hackley's future so exciting, but I know there will be no year in which that is not true, and no time will be better for such a decision.

I am also confident in the leadership of the Board in undertaking a search for my successor. Past President of the Board and current Trustee Thomas A. Caputo '65 and parent and Trustee Ted Mathas, with the guidance of Board President John R. Torell IV '80, have agreed to co-Chair the ad hoc Committee of the Board responsible for this search and for recommending a new Headmaster to the Board of Trustees. The values, history, and future of Hackley are in good hands with their leadership and that of other members of the Committee.

I feel intense gratitude to the Hackley community for the privilege of working with and for you all over these two decades. I have been blessed to find such a caring community for my family. One of the greatest joys for Tracey and me has been the education our children received here, and their enduring friendships with teachers, coaches, and fellow students. For them as for us, Hackley has been a good home, a place of intellect, heart, and a powerful moral foundation.

Of course, I will still be working at Hackley for another fifteen months, so this is not yet a goodbye. It is, though, an appropriate time for me to give you all my thanks. To the many Trustees who have volunteered their time and their wisdom; to my faculty colleagues who have stimulated and taught us all; to our devoted staff, who have worked in our offices and dining rooms and on our grounds to make all we do possible; to our passionate alumni, who in love of Hackley's past have helped create our future; to the parents who have entrusted their children to our care and extended their love to other people's children as well as their own; and most of all, to our students, the reason all of us have joined together, our hope, our future, and our inspiring present -- thank you!

Hackley has given me not only the most meaningful and rewarding job I could have imagined, it has also given my family and me a community of friends and the grace of abundant memories. I never imagined I would stay here so long or love it so much. Hackley is and will continue to be a great school because of all of you, and your commitment to the moral ideal at Hackley's heart. I look forward to my remaining months in your service.

Sincerely,

Walter C. Johnson

To the Hackley Community:

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, we write to express our regret at Walter Johnson's decision to retire at the end of the 2015-16 school year, and our gratitude for what will be his 21 years of service to our school.

Walter came to Hackley in 1995 and we cannot overstate his transformative impact on the community. Under his leadership, Hackley has evolved from a good school to a great school. He has led a thorough redesign of the campus that has enhanced both its ability to support our programs and its beauty, beginning with the 1998 purchase of 172 acres from Laurance Rockefeller, expanding our campus to 285 contiguous acres in central Westchester. Since that time, the campus has gained 134,742 square feet of new and renovated construction, a 6.4 kilometer competition Cross Country trail, and a 15.3 acre athletics complex, including five new fields.

Hackley School’s financial outlook has never been stronger. The school’s invested funds have increased from under $9 million when Walter joined Hackley to over $107 million. The Centennial Campaign, launched in 1999, raised $50 million, and the current Legacy Campaign has raised $80 million to date, while last year's Annual Fund set a new record at nearly $3.3 million.

Under Walter’s leadership, faculty compensation has more than tripled, allowing Hackley to attract and retain teachers and program leaders who have strengthened and expanded our academic programs, assuring a solid foundation on which to continue this work. He has expanded access to Hackley for families through financial aid resources that have increased nearly five-fold, from $956K to $4.7M, during this same period.

In these last 20 years, Hackley has expanded international travel and global education, added language study in the Lower School and Chinese language study, affirmed and expanded its commitment to Character Education, increased the diversity of the community, and strengthened Alumni Relations. As Headmaster, Walter has maintained a strong commitment to Hackley’s founding values, ensuring the words “enter here to be and find a friend” and “united we help one another” will continue to resonate for all Hackley students, past, present and future.

While the Board of Trustees will miss his visionary partnership, we are grateful for the knowledge that the administrative and faculty team he has established is strong and self-sustaining, able to transition to new leadership without pause. In addition, we are grateful that the strength of the organization itself will attract the best candidates as we launch a search for Walter’s replacement. We are fortunate that Walter will continue to lead Hackley for the coming 2015-16 school year, so today is not the time to truly recognize and celebrate his numerous contributions and accomplishments. Rather, today we announce Walter's plans and officially launch the search for his successor.

We have engaged Michele Haertel and Mary Gorman of Spencer Stuart as our search consultants, and have formed the following ad hoc Headmaster

Search Committee:

Thomas A. Caputo ’65, Co-Chair (President, Equity One)
Ted Mathas, Co-Chair (Chairman and CEO of New York Life)
Philip Variano, Staff Liaison (Assistant Headmaster)

Roger G. Brooks (Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore)
Linda Holden Bryant (former President, Hackley Parents Association)
John C. Canoni ’86 (Partner-in-Charge, NY office, Hawkins Parnell Thackston & Young)
H. Rodgin Cohen (Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell)
Diana Kaplan (Math Department Head; holder, Headmaster’s Chair)
Kaveh Khosrowshahi ’85 (Managing Director, Allen & Company)
Melissa Stanek ’90 (Upper School Dean; holder, Akin Family Chair)
Sy Sternberg (Retired Chairman and CEO of New York Life)
Susan L. Wagner (Co-Founder, Director at BlackRock)
John R. Torell IV ’80 ex officio (CFO, Tudor Investment Corporation)

Immediately following Spring Break, we will initiate a series of campus outreach meetings to solicit input and clarify priorities for the search. We will keep the community apprised of progress in the months to come, with the goal of finalizing a decision in the fall.

Sometimes the best candidates come to us through members of the community who know Hackley well. Should you know of a candidate you would recommend, we encourage you to email our consultants at Hackleyhead@spencerstuart.com.

Walter and Tracey have been members of our community for 20 years. They arrived at Hackley as parents of two young children, Meg and Will, now proud members of our Alumni Community in the Classes of ’07 and ’12, respectively. We know their long ties and close friendships will assure they remain close to Hackley in the years to come, and are glad to have these many months to celebrate them before they move on to their next adventure.

Sincerely,

John R. Torell IV ’80
President, Hackley Board of Trustees

Thomas A. Caputo ’65
Trustee, Past President of the Board
Co-Chair, Headmaster Search Committee

Ted Mathas
Trustee
Co-Chair, Headmaster Search Committee