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  • Interim Director of Accreditation
    Dear Members of the SAES Community,
     
    Rob Devlin and I are pleased to announce that Dr. Chris Carter, Head of St. Mark’s Cathedral School of Shreveport, has accepted the position of Interim Director of Accreditation at SAES. Chris will continue in his role as Head at St. Mark’s and has been given the approval and support of his school’s Board Chair and Dean of the Cathedral to also take on this part time position with SAES. Given Chris’s many years of leadership and service on our Standards Committee and his wealth of experience leading SAES accreditation teams we are confident that Chris can ably perform both roles.
     
    We want to thank Jeanie Stark for her able leadership as our Director of Accreditation over the years, and we are grateful to Jeanie for her able planning of our 2022-2023 accreditation teams. Our accreditation process and materials are up to date and well organized, and Jeanie and Chris look forward to a smooth on-boarding process and transition. 
     
    I also want to thank Rob Devlin for being a smart and thoughtful partner this spring as we discerned that it was in the association’s best interests to pursue an interim director of accreditation. This will allow Rob the time to assess the needs of the association as he takes the reins in July and begins to envision the strategic future for our association.
     
    Please join me in thanking and congratulating Chris Carter for enthusiastically embracing this new role as Interim Director of Accreditation.
     
    Sincerely,     

    Andrew Wooden     
    Interim Executive Director
  • SAES Executive Director Announcement
    Dear Members of the SAES Community,
     
    On behalf of our Board of Directors, and with great pride, I am very pleased to announce that Rob Devlin has accepted the position of Executive Director of the Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools effective July 1, 2022. Rob has been Head of School at St. George Episcopal Day School in San Antonio for the past 17 years. He has also led SAES as the former Board President and has served on our Standards Committee. The Board is confident that SAES will flourish under Rob’s leadership due to his more than 30 years of experience in leading independent schools and his deep abiding love of Episcopal schools.
     
    We want to thank the Search Chair, Nathan Sheldon and our Search Committee for their efforts in bringing forth such strong finalists and ultimately identifying Rob as our permanent Executive Director. The search committee recommended Rob to the Board because of his breadth and depth of experience and thoughtful leadership in Episcopal schools, his dedication to SAES, and his outreach to our association schools. Rob deeply loves and appreciates Episcopal schools and the Episcopal Identity. The search committee found Rob to be an experienced and successful school leader who values the importance of healthy relationships. He is also a gifted administrator who is highly innovative, energetic, brimming with programmatic expertise, and has a strong technology background. We are confident that he will be a great resource to school leadership in the association. Rob is seen as a patient, loving, and collaborative person who has a warm and caring pastoral style. It is said that Episcopal schools “light him up,” as he lives and breathes the Episcopal Identity and values the role it plays in the formation of children.
     
    The Association will not only benefit from Rob’s comprehensive experience in both K-12 and PK-8 schools, but also from his background and expertise in cultivating campus-wide technology plans. His work on executive leadership teams in the development of school-wide strategic plans for various aspects of school life will be of great help in providing guidance to SAES schools. Rob’s talent and experience are far reaching and reflect a wonderful balance of expertise, leadership, and mentorship. Rob has been married since 1991 and has two daughters and one son. He is a graduate of Kinkaid School, with a BA from Trinity University, and an MA from Teachers College, Columbia University. 
     
    The Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools is grateful to the The Rev. David A. Madison, D. Min. for his successful tenure as Executive Director of SAES, and we are proud that David now serves as Executive Director-Elect at the National Association of Episcopal Schools. We thank Doreen Oleson and the search firm, RG175, for guiding our Search Committee through the discernment process that led us to appointing Rob Devlin as our permanent Executive Director. As SAES Executive Director-Elect, Rob will be speaking to the association at the Biennial Conference. Please plan to join us.
     
    Sincerely,
     
    Catherine “Scootie” Clark,
    President, SAES Board of Trustees
    Rob Devlin“And the easiest way to do that (receive God’s Love) is to become part of a community of people who want to give and receive love, to liberate themselves from the tyranny of
    the self to look outward….”
    The Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, Presiding Bishop and
    Primate of The Episcopal Church
     
     
    Dear SAES Community,
     
    One of the most beautiful aspects of our association is found in the rich diversity of our schools. From the large, well resourced, urban K-12 schools, to the modest, rural, early childhood schools, and everything in between, the schools of the Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools come together to form a rich tapestry that proclaims and shares the love and hope of Christ with all. Although we may differ in size, structure, location, resources, and operation, we remain united in our shared commitment to the pursuit of both faith and reason. Our schools find common ground in “advancing academic excellence (SAES)” as we “seek and serve Christ in all persons,” while also “loving our neighbors as ourselves” and “respecting the dignity of every human being. (BCP)”   
     
    This shared and celebrated commitment to providing outstanding academic preparation while “building lives of genuine meaning, purpose, and service (NAES)” is what I love about Episcopal schools, and this is why I am honored to serve as the next Executive Director of the Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools beginning in July of 2022.  
     
    As your next Executive Director, I am excited and humbled by the opportunity to build upon the strong legacy of leadership provided by selfless servants such as The Reverend David Madison, Connie Wootton and many others. I am extremely grateful for the steady hand of leadership provided by our interim director, Andrew Wooden, and the amazing SAES team of Pat Blevins, Mary Katherine Duffy, and Jeanie Stark - thank you all for continuing to serve our association with great skill and love in the midst of this transition. Thank you also to Nathan Sheldon and all the members of the search committee, to search consultant Doreen Oleson, and to the SAES Board of Directors for their service to our association throughout this process. 
     
    Together, may we all remain part of a community of people who want to give and receive love. See you all at the Biennial next week!
     
    Respectfully,
     
    Rob Devlin 

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