Five new members named to Board of Trustees

Robert Barber ’68, P’03, is an attorney, former ambassador, and dedicated PA volunteer. Barber has served on the Alumni Council, as regional association president, as class agent, and on the board of the Abbot Academy Fund. He received the Distinguished Service Award in 2019 and currently serves on the Andover Alumni Award of Distinction committee. He has chaired the Class of 1968’s past seven reunions, and his efforts in 2023 resulted in a record turnout for a 55th reunion.

Appointed by President Obama, Barber served as U.S. Ambassador to Iceland from 2015 to 2017. Prior to that, he practiced law for three decades in Boston and worked as a prosecutor in Manhattan. He is currently a partner at the Boston law firm Prince Lobel, focusing on startups and nonprofit organizations.

He holds degrees from Harvard College, Harvard School of Design, and Boston University School of Law.

Anna Durham ’78 is the principal of Lekker LLC, where she advises founders and CEOs and provides interim executive services for companies experiencing rapid growth or change.

Durham began her career at General Electric’s International Division and went on to manage finance for the consumer and industrial products group in New York City. She relocated to France as the finance manager and then business leader for GE Healthcare Financial Services. She continued in leadership roles before heading to the Netherlands to become COO of GE’s global receivables business. She then returned to France to become COO of GE Capital France. Following the divestiture of that business, she established and was named president of GE Industrial Leasing France.

Durham recently completed her term as an alumni trustee and previously served on the Andover Development Board, the Alumni Council, and as co-chair of the Annual Giving Board. Beyond Andover, she served on the executive committee of eCoast Angels and the New Hampshire Women’s Investor Network. She also served as board chair for Unruly Studios, a Boston-based nonprofit seeking to make STEM accessible for all students through play and collaborative learning.

Durham earned a BA from the University of Virginia and MBA from Columbia Business School.

Uche Osuji ’91 works at Arctaris Impact Investors, an investment firm focused on economic development.

He was born in Nigeria and moved to Dallas with his parents when he was 8 years old. His time at Andover expanded his perspectives, challenged him, and rewarded him with lifelong friendships and an incredible support system. Osuji went on to study engineering at Duke University where he also earned an MBA.

When he moved to New York to work for Bear Stearns, he reconnected with high school friend Todd Isaac ’90. A month later, Isaac died in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. To honor his friend, Osuji helped raise funds to endow a scholarship in Todd Isaac’s name.

Osuji also has served Andover as a class co-head agent for 25 years and as a member of the Alumni Council Executive Committee, the New York Regional Association, and Class of 1991 reunion committees. He is also a member of the Duke Alumni Board and several corporate boards.

Henry Smyth ’88 is head of school at Gilman School in Baltimore, where he has served in the leadership role since July 2013 after joining Gilman as assistant headmaster in 2010.

Smyth has over 30 years of independent-school experience as a teacher, coach, and administrator, including positions at Charlotte (N.C.) Country Day School, St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., and the Head-Royce School in Oakland, Calif., where he was a dean and assistant director of admissions. Before coming to Gilman, Smyth spent six years as head of the Upper School at St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School in Washington, D.C.

A loyal volunteer and donor for Andover, having served as a class agent, Smyth also serves his local community on the boards of Bridges Baltimore and the Baltimore Education Scholarship Trust. Smyth holds an AB from Princeton University and an MA from Stanford University.

Kent Strong ’89, P’27 is founder and CEO of K12connect, a staffing agency serving K-12 education. Since 2003, he has led the company in the recruitment and placement of over 7,500 professionals in urban schools serving predominantly disadvantaged learners. He is also the finance and technology director at Sirius Thinking, a technology provider of classroom and curriculum products. He previously taught a graduate course in social-organizational psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University.

In recognition of his devotion to Andover, Strong received the Distinguished Service Award in 2020. He has served many volunteer roles including Alumni Admissions Representative, class co-head agent, Annual Giving Board member, Vice President of the Alumni Council, and on event planning committees.

He also volunteers for Princeton University as a class agent, alumni interviewer, and class vice president. An advocate of school choice, Strong chaired the New York chapter of the Black Alliance for Education Options. He also volunteered as a coach for Harlem Little League.

Strong holds an AB from Princeton and an MBA from Columbia.