Background: Tony Featherston has been a leader in independent school education for 30 years. As a longtime faculty member for the NAIS Diversity Leadership Institute and for five years as the lead facilitator of the Institute for New Heads, he has extensive experience cultivating leaders in schools. Tony has served on several school and association boards and currently sits on two: Pine Point School in Connecticut and Tabor Academy (his alma mater) in Massachusetts. His leadership in the area of diversity and inclusion and as a regular presenter at the People of Color Conference informs his work in schools, with school leadership, and boards of trustees. During his career in schools, Tony especially enjoyed nurturing a strong school culture. While missing that ability to be deeply entrenched in a single school’s culture, he enjoys his current consulting role for the ability to have impact on the culture of independent schools broadly.

Tony spent 12 years in headship at Elmwood Franklin School in Buffalo and The Town School in Manhattan. Prior to his headships, he held senior administrative positions at Pine Point School, Kent Denver School, and Concord Academy. Tony started his career at Concord as a history teacher, dorm parent, and coach. He received his BA from Boston College and MAT from Brown University.

Since joining RG175 in 2018, Tony has completed head of school searches in New York City, New England, the South, and on the West Coast. He has also done searches for division heads and directors of diversity, equity, and inclusion.