Success Stories

Thank you so much for the guidance and wisdom you gave Harding Academy these past few months. Carney Sandoe's reputation is excellent, and you exceeded the high expectations we had for you in this partnership. Your gentle nudges, your words of encouragement, and your thoughtful questions reflect your integrity, professionalism and experience. I am excited for the path Harding Academy will climb with its new leader, and we would not be here without you. Countless children in the years to come will benefit because of where you have moved us.

I am a member of the Board of Trustees at the American College of Sofia in Bulgaria and led the head of school search committee in the spring of 2021 to replace our seven-year incumbent. We interviewed three search firms and hired Art Charles and John Chandler of Carney Sandoe to help us lead the search. They educated our first-time search committee members on process, commitments, and best practices. Our situation was unique being an American school in the Balkans, but Art and John offered tailored advice to our situation. They not only fielded applications from candidates who learned of our position, but proactively reached out to their network of leaders who hadn’t heard about our search. Our ultimate hire was one of those people. Carney Sandoe helped us conduct an efficient and effective Zoom-only search process during COVID, without compromising the integrity of the process or the search’s outcome. When it came to negotiating with our finalists, Carney Sandoe were thought partners on every aspect of the proposal, including compensation package vs. cost of living, market competition, impact of accreditation findings, contract review, community outreach, and internal and external communication. Generally, their response time was two hours or less, regardless of the time difference. They were extremely kind, patient, and thorough and encouraged us to evaluate fit throughout the process. In the end we couldn’t be happier with our head of school.

A sincere thank you for all of your support helping us with our Head of School and Principal search. Your steady hand and sage guidance were so appreciated and I want you to know that we are in a great place with our new leadership.

The team of Art Charles, John Chandler, and Deb Welch were simply outstanding in support of our searches. As we sought to hire two principals, the CS&A team were always available, responsive, and thoughtful in their approaches, work, and recommendations. COVID required new approaches and creative thinking, and I appreciated the team's leadership and flexibility to personalize the search for our school. I was also grateful for their patience and dedication in ensuring a complete process, fully considering the candidates' needs and our school's needs. Hiring a school leader can have a real impact on a school, and the CS&A team will not hesitate to make the extra effort to support schools with the hiring process.

Having a reliable team of seasoned professionals with practitioner experience on your side is a blessing at the best of times - never more so, than when hiring a head of school. Add to the challenge, a most demanding brief, in the midst of a global pandemic. We sure made it difficult, but Art, Ralph, John, and Deb brought trusted counsel, sound wit, and sage advice all along the way, and despite having hideous time zone differences, email responses were nearly always within the hour. Taking the time to comprehensively get to know our school, community, and needs, privileged Carney Sandoe with the knowledge and informed discernment, which along with their proven methodology, delivered a shortlist which, well, nailed it. Our school benefited greatly from our collaboration, and I know will continue to reap untold benefits stemming from our hire, perfectly matched, by our perfect search partners.

Due to an unavoidable change in personal circumstances, International School Basel found itself needing to recruit a new Senior School Principal very late in the annual recruitment cycle (late February). We knew that recruiting an excellent Senior School Principal at such a late stage of the year was going to be a real challenge. We thus decided to contact Carney Sandoe in the final week of February about assisting us with this search. Within five hours I had a reply and was connected with Art Charles and John Chandler. This was immediately followed up with a video call the same evening, where Art and John clarified our requirements and outlined a possible way forward. I was impressed by the rapid response to my initial request. We were very happy with the plan suggested by Carney Sandoe and made the decision to work with them on this important search.

Over the next few days, we worked closely with the Carney Sandoe team to develop the candidate brief and advertise out role. Art and John constantly kept in touch with me, regularly updating me on the progress of our search. In just over two weeks from my initial contact, we received the first of the candidate dossiers. We were amazed at the strength of the field we were able to attract. Without doubt, this was largely due to Carney Sandoe's strong reach and connection within the international school leadership community.

The candidate dossiers we received from Carney Sandoe were detailed and extremely helpful in allowing us to develop a very strong shortlist of candidates, who we started interviewing just one month and a day after first contacting Carney Sandoe. We ended up appointing our new Senior School Principal only 36 days after first contacting Carney Sandoe. I am absolutely sure that this would never have been possible without all the work done by Art Charles and John Chandler, who remained fully engaged during the entire process. I was amazed at how quickly they responded to any queries - do they ever sleep!

I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Carney Sandoe to any school looking to recruit a senior leader to your team.

Many thanks to you, Bill, and Bob Regan for guidance through this process. Not only did we find the perfect fit for our school, but this process also helped us look at our school community through many different constituent lenses … something we should have done long ago. I am grateful that you challenged us to do so, and I think we will be better for it in the future.

We were amazed at the strength of the field we were able to attract. Without doubt, this was largely due to Carney Sandoe's strong reach and connection within the international school leadership community.

Thank you for your work on this important leadership search. We couldn't have done it without you and I've really valued your expertise and guidance along the way. I've learned so much and, most of all, really enjoyed working together on this.

Dear Ben, Deb, John, and Ralph,

Just want to take this moment to thank you and your colleagues for your professional guidance. The search process was arduous and demanding at times, and your support has helped to smooth out the bumps. We are grateful to have met many accomplished educational leaders whose education philosophy resonates deeply with us.