February 2, 2022
Dear Members of the Pingry Community,
On behalf of Pingry’s Board of Trustees and the Head of School Search Committee, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Timothy Patrick Lear as Pingry’s next Head of School. After a thorough process, the Search Committee unanimously recommended Tim to the Board of Trustees, who also voted unanimously in support of his appointment to succeed Matt Levinson effective July 1, 2022.
Tim knows and loves Pingry. His long history with our school, starting with his days as a student over 30 years ago and in his current role as Assistant Head of School for Guidance and Student Life, demonstrates an unwavering commitment to Pingry. We are thrilled to have chosen an exceptional leader who is deeply aligned with Pingry’s core values and ready to move forward with the School’s strategic priorities in a way that unites the Pingry community around its mission to foster in students a lifelong commitment to intellectual exploration, individual growth, and social responsibility.
A long-time New Jersey resident, Tim graduated from Pingry in 1992 and then received both an A.B. in English from Princeton University and an M.A. in English from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English. After 10 years at Oak Knoll School as an English teacher, academic advisor, and ultimately the Director of College Counseling, Tim returned to the Pingry family in 2007. For nearly 15 years, Tim has led Pingry’s College Counseling department, taught English, served as academic advisor, coached Varsity Cross Country, assumed leadership of Student Support Services, and in July 2021, was named Assistant Head of School for Guidance and Student Life.
Tim is married to Eleanor Lear, a lifelong English teacher who taught at Kent Place School, Summit High School, Hood River Valley High School in Oregon, and the Fundación Neotrópica in Costa Rica before coming to Pingry in 2015 to teach Middle and Upper School English. The Lears have three children, all of whom attend Pingry: Hyla ’25, James ’27, and Tighe ’30.
Tim Lear’s appointment as Pingry’s 17th Head of School makes him just the fourth Pingry graduate to hold this position. It also marks the culmination of an extensive seven-month process that began last summer when we announced that Matt Levinson had accepted the headship position at San Francisco University High School and would be returning to the West Coast to begin his new role on July 1, 2022. Pingry’s Head of School Search Committee, consisting of Trustees (including both alumni and current parents) and members of the faculty, engaged Carney, Sandoe & Associates (CS&A) to serve as our search consultant partner.
Widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading independent school search firms, CS&A brought over 40 years of experience to the table, including a deep knowledge of and familiarity with the work, expectations, and culture of schools like Pingry. The firm’s search team was led by CS&A President Devereaux McClatchey. We then turned to you — the members of our Pingry community — to help us define the professional and personal qualities, the temperament, and the right blend of experience that we needed to find in our next Head of School. Over the course of approximately two months, our CS&A partners made multiple visits to Pingry and conducted extensive interviews with faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni, administrators, and Trustees. Our online survey gathered additional qualitative and quantitative feedback from over 750 respondents, and more than 500 people participated across 33 separate listening and learning sessions that were made available both on-campus and virtually via Zoom.
The significant and thoughtful input the Search Committee received is a testament to our shared love for Pingry. Your guidance played a vital role in the development of our Head of School Position Description, which CS&A distributed to a broad network of educators and thought leaders around the country and around the world. It came as no surprise to the Search Committee that an exceptionally strong pool of talented candidates with an impressive breadth and depth of leadership experience was attracted by Pingry’s reputation for excellence — in combination with its mission, history, welcoming community, financial stability, and vision for the future as set forth in our Strategic Plan.
We asked, you answered, and your voices were heard. The feedback, insights, and perspectives gathered from across the entire Pingry community were simply invaluable. The guidance you provided coalesced around several important themes, including: the importance of Pingry’s academic excellence and innovation; the need to maintain an unwavering focus on the learning needs and passions of each individual student; and the vital role that the Honor Code must play in the daily lives of the student experience. It was made crystal clear throughout the search process that our next Head of School needed to be someone who embodied Pingry’s mission and values, championed our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), and embraced the widely shared desire for a heightened focus on building community and stability. We know we have found the right person in Tim Lear. With his long history and love of Pingry, along with his steadfast commitment to bringing our community together, Tim rose above the other highly qualified candidates.
Head of School Matt Levinson will continue to lead Pingry until the end of June, and he and Tim will actively collaborate over the coming months. We are grateful for Matt’s commitment to work closely with the Board, the administration, and Tim to guarantee a seamless transition for our community and provide Tim with the opportunity to assume his new role from a position of strength and positive momentum.
We express our sincere gratitude to Matt for his contributions to the Pingry community over these past three years. Matt steered Pingry through a time like no other in both the School’s and the nation’s history. While facing challenges on an unprecedented scale, Matt delivered a first-in-class, nationally recognized educational experience for our students, making in-person learning a reality while also building out our technology infrastructure so we could pivot on a dime to remote learning when necessary — all while also ensuring the health and safety of every member of our Pingry community.
We extend our sincere thanks to our fellow members of the Search Committee for their hard work and dedication. Special thanks are also due to Lisa Reichart, Executive Assistant to the Head of School, for her invaluable efforts and talents, and to our partners at Carney Sandoe for their excellent work: Devereaux McClatchey, Heather Flewelling, Seliat Dario, and Jessica Wright. Their commitment to this process along with the crucial input we received from all of you — administrators, faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni, and current, past, and honorary members of the Board of Trustees — allowed us to select the best candidate to lead our remarkable institution.
Please read this message from Tim to the community, and join us in welcoming Tim Lear as Pingry’s 17th Head of School!
With warmest regards,
Ian Shrank ’71
Chair, Board of Trustees
Lori Halivopoulos ’78, P ’23
Trustee
Co-Chair, Head of School Search Committee
Stuart Lederman ’78
Trustee
Co-Chair, Head of School Search Committee
Pingry Head of School Search Committee:
- Denise Grant P ’23, Trustee
- Lori Halivopoulos ’78, P ’23, Trustee, Co-Chair Search Committee
- Dev Ittycheria P ’19, ’22, Trustee
- Judy Lebowitz, Upper School Latin Teacher, Mentor Program Director
- Stuart Lederman ’78, Trustee, Co-Chair Search Committee
- Leslie Miller P ’29, ’31, Lower School Physical Education Coordinator, Health Teacher, Lower School Enrichment Coordinator
- Jason Murdock, Middle School History Teacher, Admissions Counselor
- Margaret Santana P ’22, ’24, Former Trustee and Past President of The Pingry School Parents’ Association
- Kevin Schmidt ’98, Trustee and President of the Pingry Alumni Association
- Ian Shrank ’71, Chair of the Board of Trustees