To our members and guests,

It gives me and everyone connected with LYIS an enormous sense of pride to welcome you to our 3rd Annual LYIS Leadership Conference #LYIS27. Thank you for being part of our future and for helping to redefine international school leadership. LYIS is an organisation unlike any other, and #LYIS27 will be a conference unlike any other. Opportunity-laden, emotional, tied to our leadership framework, and designed to connect like-minded individuals. As one participant said last year, "I found my people." We take great pride in daring to be different. Our entire mission to level up international school leadership is gaining incredible momentum, and you, our delegates, have the responsibility to keep it moving forward.

This year's conference theme is: 

Leading with Mission Integrity.  

How we lead when no one is watching is the ultimate test of our integrity. How do we as schools make sure that the statements on the walls and the values that we measure ourselves against are truly embedded into the fabric of our decisions, everyday practice, and efforts to make our communities places where everyone has a genuine chance to succeed—no matter where they are from? This theme is woven into every aspect of school leadership, from recruitment to curriculum and from our approach to developing people to the well-being systems we actually adopt. Integrity never sleeps. And it certainly is not the loudest voice in the room. 

At LYIS, we believe that the future is here, right in front of us, and we live it every day of our lives. As the famous Chinese proverb states, "The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now". At our conference, we plant the seed of leadership, and I am delighted that we are helping our international schools become more diverse and truer reflections of the communities in which they serve. 

Make new friends and reconnect with old ones. We welcome you to support our incredible charity partner, Raising Futures Kenya, as we aim to surpass our total of $2000 that we raised last year. 

The New Zealand rugby team has a saying, "Better people make better All Blacks." I believe that better people make better international school leaders, and this is at the heart of everything LYIS stands for and is trying to achieve. Be the best person you can be and take someone with you on the journey. I simply cannot wait to meet you and learn about your own remarkable journeys.

Looking forward to welcoming you to #LYIS27!

André Double
Founder & CEO 

LYIS