Educators’ Collaborative, Spruce Head, Maine
Nominee: Elliot Eisner
John Bird is a leadership and management consultant to non-profit organizations across the country. His clients have included over 250 independent schools and other organizations located in 45 states and four foreign nations or territories. John’s services have included searches for heads of independent schools, strategic planning projects, board retreats on governance issues, consultations with schools considering mergers or other strategic alliances, conflict resolution, and planning studies for capital campaigns.
Before beginning his consulting career in 1989, John spent 29 years in independent education, five years in full-time teaching, five years as a senior administrator and teacher, and 19 years as a head of school. Ten of those 19 years were spent as headmaster of the Holland Hall School in Tulsa, Oklahoma (1974-84).
John has also served as a trustee and board chair of several non-profit boards in the fields of education, health care, the environment, the arts, and religion.
John grew up in Rockland, Maine, and received his B.A. degree from Bowdoin College. He also has an M.A. from George Washington University. John and his wife of 42 years, Mary Alice, now live in Spruce Head, Maine. The Birds have three grown children and several grandchildren.
