Embedded Files
Friday evening, January 22 - Saturday, January 23, 2027
Friday evening, January 22 - Saturday, January 23, 2027
Early Bird Pricing through December 15, 2026: $125
Schools and organizations sending more than one community member
will enjoy a reduced rate of $100 for each additional participant.
Leading with Spirit invites you to an online continental conference to develop board members and transform how you see your role as a leader in your school.
Dynamic times require creative leadership! The future of our Waldorf schools depends on boards that are prepared, inspired, and connected. Whether you are a first-time board member, a newly appointed administrator, or a seasoned volunteer stepping into a leadership position, you are part of a larger community working toward the same goal: vibrant, healthy Waldorf schools.
During the conference you will meet colleagues from across the continent, deepen your understanding of the mission of Waldorf education, and gain practical tools to bring back to your board.
More than a conference — an investment in the future of Waldorf education — and in your own capacity to lead with purpose and to be part of a growing collaborative network.
Keynote Presentation with John Bloom - Credibility, the Magical Power of Governance
Good governance is not simply a matter of procedure. It is the foundation on which trust is built, and trust is what allows a school to thrive.
In his keynote presentation on governance in independent Waldorf schools, John Bloom will cover the critical functions of a Board of Trustees and the key aspects of governing well, including responsibility, authority, and accountability. These three distinct and indivisible facets are the primary elements of governing, and they shape how living and shared agreements can support both organizational coherence and individual capacities, all in service to the school's social and spiritual mission.
The resulting power of good governance is credibility, without which trust cannot thrive.
About John Bloom
John brings decades of experience at the intersection of money, spirit, and organizational life. Drawing on more than two decades at RSF Social Finance, where he served as vice president for organizational culture, he developed programs on leadership, governance, and social transformation that continue to shape organizations today. He is the author of The Genius of Money and Inhabiting Interdependence, and a founder and trustee of Living Lands Trust.
John is a founder of John Bloom Advisory LLC and Spirit Matters, an initiative serving anthroposophical work. He has written extensively on governance, money, and culture, and has led governance workshops for numerous nonprofits. His recent research on threefold consciousness as a precondition for restructuring our cultural, social, and economic lives has informed his work with organizations seeking to meet the future with integrity and coherence.
SATURDAY CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS
Money, Economics, Collaboration, Change
Transforming the Economic Future of Waldorf Education in North America - Connie Stokes
This workshop will introduce and explore the work of a dynamic group of leaders who are engaged in transforming the economic future of Waldorf education in North America. Educational organizations need regenerative funding free from transactional limitations associated with a tuition-based or government-funded approach. This work of this group is intended to include anyone interested in how Waldorf education can become a reality for all students and families who see its value for the human spirit and social renewal. If these questions inspire you, come and learn more about this exciting work.
Crafting Engaging and Effective Board Meetings
Practical tools for board meetings that hum and thrive
- Christine Laird-Scherding
Make your board meetings dynamic and effective through thoughtful planning and engaged action. This workshop will provide guidance on agenda building, meeting organization, communication before, during and after meetings, and the basics of board record keeping. We will also explore the four levels of listening, establishing annual goals, and developing an annual board calendar.
The Board’s Work as a Pedagogical Practice
Board practices that cultivate the health of the school
- Ben Linstrom
Waldorf Board members do not necessarily carry pedagogical authority, yet how a board listens, deliberates, and makes decisions shapes the conditions in which pedagogical life can flourish. This workshop will explore how boards can bring qualities of attention, developmental thinking, reflection, and shared inquiry to their work while maintaining clear roles, fiduciary responsibility, and accountable decision-making. Through conversation and practical examples, participants will examine their own board culture and identify concrete practices that can strengthen trust, shared purpose, and the health of the school.
Driver’s Ed: Strategies for Staying in Your Lane and Getting to Your Destination
The board’s role in supporting the school’s administrative leader
- Denese Giordano
One of the three identified duties of board members is to support their employee (typically the administrative leader). In this workshop we will explore practical approaches to address this duty. Our work will include methodologies for seeking, identifying and hiring a new leader, shepherding the leader through their work, and modeling collegial relationships that help move the organization toward fulfilling its mission.
The Board’s Role in AWSNA Accreditation
Explore the board’s role in accreditation with the AWSNA Director of Accreditation
- Sian Owen-Cruise
This workshop will explore the Board’s essential role in supporting a school through the AWSNA accreditation process, from self-study through the accreditation visit and follow-up. Participants will consider how Board members can engage meaningfully in accreditation, support the school community, and maintain appropriate boundaries between governance and school operations.
Navigating the Board’s Role in Marketing
Guidance for crafting the board’s marketing role
- Theo Groh
The board is uniquely positioned to have an impact on a school’s marketing. Because the board guides the budgeting process and identifies funding priorities it’s important to understand the strengths, pitfalls, and tools that boards encounter and make use of when engaging around school marketing. We will explore current marketing platforms and how to make best use of analytics. We will focus on the healthy role of boards in school marketing and will include discussions and exercises around school marketing, the enrollment funnel, and the customer journey as it relates to school marketing.
Conflict and Cooperation in Waldorf School Boards
Engaging conflict as a threshold for deeper cooperation
- Jody Spanglet
Waldorf school boards operate within a unique governance model that balances spiritual stewardship, pedagogical freedom, and fiduciary responsibility. For trustees serving across North America, navigating the creative friction between administrative mandates, faculty leadership, and board governance is a universal challenge. This interactive workshop reframes conflict not as an institutional failure, but as a necessary threshold for deeper cooperation. Trustees will gain continental perspectives on systemic tensions, learn to recognize predictable governance blind spots, and leave with practical tools to cultivate mutual trust and healthy decision-making.
Further Conversation on the Conference Keynote Address
A deeper dive into the themes of our keynote address.
- John Bloom
Join John Bloom for a conversation designed to go deeper into the insights and thoughts covered in his Friday evening keynote address Credibility, the Magical Power of Governance.
The Generative Board: Essential Practices for Balancing Practical Work and Spiritual Insight
Essential Practices for Balancing Practical Work and Spiritual Insight
- Michael Soule
Every board faces a daunting task of effectively managing its core responsibilities while continually finding new insights and inspiration. The social spiritual foundations of Waldorf education that inform the pedagogical life of the school also hold great possibilities for deepening and enlivening the work of a board. In this workshop we will explore simple basic exercises and practices that can build new possibilities for board work and for the growth, development, sense of satisfaction and enthusiasm of the trustees. Using creative activity, and dialog, participants will get to experience and grasp new possibilities for developing with their boards.
The Archetype of a School: A Tool for Mapping the Elements of School Organization
A dynamic tool for mapping the elements of school organization
- Madelief Welters
The Archetype of a Waldorf school provides a lens through which to view the organizational structure of the Waldorf schools we serve. The archetype is a detailed image not a non-prescriptive tool. It offers us a useful way of considering the three separate realms of our schools; Faculty, Administration, and Board, and looks at how they develop striving for harmony within each realm and cohesiveness among the realms. In this workshop you will become familiar with the archetype framework and explore the ways in which we can use these insights to meet the challenges we face in our work. Using presentation and discussion you will leave this workshop with new ideas and renewed inspiration to better support your school.
Roundtable for Board Officers
A moderated question-and-answer discussion for board officers
- Lisa Mahar
Join with other board chairs, vice-chairs, treasurers, and secretaries for a moderated roundtable to discuss leadership, succession planning, board recruitment, board orientation, reviewing the work of the board, board communication with the school community, the chair’s relationship with the school’s administrative leader, leading in a crisis, managing delegated authority, and other topics of interest raised by the participants.
PANEL DISCUSSION
Our panel discussion will give you the chance to hear from a variety of Waldorf school leaders on board topics of interest, emerging challenges, and innovative activities. Bring your questions!
Panelists
John Bloom, Executive, John Bloom Advisory
Christine Laird-Scherding, Leading with Spirit core faculty member; school advisor and consultant
Ben Linstrom, School Administrator at Detroit Waldorf School
Stephanie Rynas, AWSNA Executive Director for Operations and Member Resources
Derek Wong, City of Lakes Waldorf School board member and treasurer
Lisa Mahar, Panel Moderator
READ ABOUT OUR PRESENTERS & PANELISTS
Denese Giordano is a seasoned school administration professional. Denese Giordano has been in the workforce for five decades. She uses her knowledge and experience to establish structure, support entrepreneurial efforts, and nurture creative solutions. She specializes in building healthy systems in finance, human resources, administrative operations, outreach, and development. Denese strives to build collegial relationships among staff, faculty, and parents to create a community of scholastic exploration, driven by a curiosity about the world and a deep respect for fellow humans. Denese is currently consulting with a number of schools and participates in many volunteer efforts in support of Waldorf Education.
Theo Groh is a Founding Partner at Wheelhouse Web Solutions and has worked with over thirty Waldorf Schools over the past eight years on marketing projects large and small, from websites to brochures to custom digital advertising and analytics. He is a PreK-12 Waldorf graduate, has worked in Admissions and Marketing for High Mowing School, and has served in the High Mowing Alumni Association. He holds a master’s degree in digital marketing and design from Brandeis University.
Christine Laird-Scherding has been a student of Anthroposophy for over 30 years and has worked in Waldorf schools since 1999. Most recently, she completed 10 years as Administrative Director at The Upper Valley Waldorf School in Vermont. Christine serves as a LWS core faculty member and as a school advisor and consultant.
Ben Linstrom is the Administrator of Detroit Waldorf School and previously served as a Waldorf class teacher taking students from first through eighth grade. He holds a Master of Public Administration in nonprofit leadership and is the author of A Waldorf Education for All. His work focuses on governance, faculty-administration collaboration, strategic planning, and cultivating leadership in Waldorf schools as a pedagogical practice.
Lisa Mahar served as School Administrator at Monadnock Waldorf School in Keene, New Hampshire, from 1991 to 2018. She is a founding member of the Administrators Network of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (ANA), a trained meeting facilitator, and now advises and consults with Waldorf schools on governance, community building, administrative review, meeting facilitation, mentoring, visioning, and administrative planning. She has served on the board of Monadnock Food Cooperative and currently serves as president of the board for the Center for Anthroposophy.
Sian Owen-Cruise Siân Owen-Cruise brings 35 years of experience in Waldorf Education to her current role as Director of Accreditation for AWSNA. She has been a class and high school teacher, an administrator at both the Minnesota Waldorf School and the Rudolf Steiner School of Ann Arbor, Director of the Waldorf Institute of Southeast Michigan, a Board Member at two Waldorf Schools, and a colleague in Leading with Spirit. She also brings additional experience in public education and higher education. She holds a BS in Technical Communication and an MA and Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Argumentation.
Michael Soule has enjoyed a 40-year career in Waldorf education as a class teacher, school administrator, AWSNA executive, school advisor, and leadership trainer. Michael has worked with boards in many capacities, most recently as co-founder of Leading with Spirit’s board training program, “Prepared to Serve”. Michael is dedicated to helping trustees find creative ways to balance the practical work of a board and the generative creative work of an inspired collaborative team, working in concert with the spiritually informed pedagogical life of the Waldorf school.
Jody Spanglet is the Director of Finance at the Ashwood Waldorf School in Rockport, Maine. She served as the Director of Accreditation for AWSNA for four years. Prior to that, Jody was Administrative Director at Ashwood Waldorf School. Jody serves as a core faculty member at Leading with Spirit.
Connie Stokes draws on 50 years of experience in teaching, leadership, administration, and board work across four Waldorf schools: Chicago Waldorf School, Honolulu Waldorf School, Highland Hall Waldorf School, and Portland Waldorf School. She has served AWSNA and its member schools in various capacities, including leadership roles, summer conference planning, organizational review, accreditation teams, and accreditation review. From 2022-2025, Connie served as registrar, project manager, and presenter to Leading with Spirit’s board training.
Madelief Welters attended the Lexington Waldorf School and Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School in Massachusetts before her family moved to Vermont in 1997. She has been a part of the Orchard Valley Waldorf School community since 2008 and assumed the duties of the Administrative Director role in 2019. She recently handed over these responsibilities but remains on the Board of Trustees. Madelief holds a certificate from Leading with Spirit in Waldorf Administration and Leadership.
WITH GRATITUDE TO OUR SPONSORS
This conference is made possible in part by the generosity of our sponsors: Mercurius, AdminService, and Wheelhouse Web Solutions. Their support helps us keep this offering accessible to schools across the continent, and we are grateful for their partnership in this work.
Google Sites
Report abuse