Merrilee Mardon named deputy head of school

Merrilee Mardon, associate head of school and dean of faculty at the Hotchkiss School, has been named Phillips Academy’s incoming deputy head of school. The public announcement was made this week by Head of School Raynard Kington, MD, PhD, P’24.

Kington thanked Jim Ventre ’79, assistant head of school for admission and financial aid, for chairing the search committee and “all members of the committee for their thoughtful deliberation that brought us to Merrilee’s appointment.”

“We are eager and excited to welcome Merrilee to our community. Her experience as an educator and administrator spans roles across academic and residential life,” said Kington. “She thoughtfully balances a student-centered perspective with the support and development of faculty and staff.”

At Hotchkiss, Mardon oversees a team that includes campus life, athletics, and academic department heads, in addition to the school’s human development program, mental health counseling, and health services.

Her responsibilities include leading the process to evaluate faculty work around academic, residential, and athletic priorities. She is focused on enhanced feedback and professional support for faculty and attention to equity in faculty assignments. She also oversees faculty recruitment and retention, with a focus on unconscious bias training to ensure strong and diverse candidate pools.

Among her proudest accomplishments, Mardon created the Walter Crain Fellowship, which promotes the development of underrepresented populations among independent school leadership. The program will soon have six fellows who will go on to earn a master’s degree in private school leadership with the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University Teachers College.

A graduate of Smith College, Mardon earned her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Massachusetts and taught economics and gender and women's studies at Connecticut College before joining the Hotchkiss faculty in 2008. She was appointed associate dean of academic life in 2013 and dean of academic life in 2014.

Mardon will succeed Raj Mundra, who helped to forge this new position as interim deputy head this year. After more than 25 years as a member of the Andover faculty, Mundra will become head of school at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco this summer. “I am especially grateful to Raj for charting a course in this new role and for helping us transition to Merrilee,” said Kington.

Mardon will join the campus community and officially begin as deputy head this summer.