Success Stories

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.

Sarah and I have found Jennifer to be an absolute gem. She’s fun to work with and her expertise is tremendous. She carefully vetted the candidates up front and then followed up with the references incredibly well. So pleased that we took on this pioneering process together. We just hired a really super new counselor!

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.

Dear Art, Ralph, David, and Deb,

We wanted to express our sincere gratitude to you for your support in our head of school search process. We knew it would not be an easy task with the extremely tight timeframe we were facing but you were able to pull through and present to us a very strong line up of final candidates that were all unique and strong in their own regard. This in turn made our decision difficult, but you were always available to support our needs and give sound advice.

Safe Passage/Camino Seguro, a PK-Grade 9 school in Guatemala City, recently had the opportunity to partner with Art Charles, John Chandler, and Theodora Konetsovska of Carney, Sandoe & Associates as we launched a search for a new executive director. Given the timing (a bit late in the season), the specific demands of the job (education combined with international social service), the geography (Guatemala), and our need for a bilingual English-Spanish speaker, we knew that our search would present challenges. Despite them all, however, Art, John, and Theodora delivered a strong and highly experienced candidate pool and expertly supported us through the entire search process. Their candidate dossiers were incredibly detailed and thoughtful, allowing our search committee to hone quickly in on those candidates of particular interest. Their invaluable support through the reference-checking process, supported again by incredibly insightful and well-prepared reports, was also a key factor in our success. The calm professionalism each of these talented consultants evinced during check-in calls always reassured us that we would achieve our goals.

Having now signed an outstanding next executive director for our organization, we are deeply grateful to Art, John, and Theodora, whose depth and range of experiences and knowledge provided us with the expertise and support we needed to move confidently through our process. Having partnered with Carney, Sandoe & Associates for countless faculty searches over the past 35 years, I can say that their retained search service is outstanding and that Art, John, and Theodora, on the international side, are experienced, thoughtful, talented, diligent, caring, and responsive professionals who go above and beyond to ensure a successful outcome for their clients.

One of the first, and perhaps wisest, decisions our head of school search committee undertook early this year was to engage Carney, Sandoe & Associates who assigned a wonderfully gifted team of Bob Fricker and Lisa Parsons to assist us with our search. They took the time to get to know the unique culture and characteristics that define us and delivered a talented pool of highly qualified candidates for our consideration. After an extensive search and screening process, we have appointed a fantastic head. Our colleagues from Carney Sandoe remain engaged with the preparation and transition process to ensure she gets off to the best start possible.

Our 12 member search committee, which was comprised of trustees and faculty, found Lisa and Bob to be seasoned professionals with a deep understanding of independent schools and how to meet our needs. They were also a lot of fun to work with. We felt the manner in which they helped us successfully navigate our search process, particularly during this most challenging year, worth sharing with you.

Beginning last spring, and through the winter, we had the privilege at Cathedral of working with Brandon Jacobs and Beth Dietz for our principal search. While I am certain this is the case in all schools, we believe Cathedral has a super important and unique mission, and it was critical for us to find the right leader. Thanks to Brandon and Beth, we secured a principal that we are beyond excited about. Working with both Brandon and Beth felt like working with a team, or members of our own staff. I cannot offer high enough compliments, and truly feel grateful for their guidance and leadership throughout the process.

It has been an absolute pleasure working with Cathy Shelburne and Sara Shulman, and I could not have wished for a better outcome, particularly during a time when it felt like all of our peer schools were also looking for a Director of Advancement.

Thanks so much for all your work with us and all your support. It was wonderful to have such a strong pool from which to choose.

I just wanted to send you a brief final note of gratitude. Conducting conversations and facilitating dialogue is what you do for a living but, for me as a witness, it takes on special significance. Your expertise, professionalism, and experience help different people (with different perspectives) find a common table around which all can gather and communicate. Thank you for your time, patience, and especially your dedication to the process. Your attention and professional acuity serve as life-giving sources to those of us who view this transition as not just important but urgent. We are grateful for your viewing STA not simply as another project but, as you said so well, an opportunity to find s/he who will best carry the Catholic mission forward.