the
holdsworth
Center

PRESIDENT
AUSTIN, TEXAS

Established in January 2017 through a generous $100M founding gift, the Holdsworth Center supports the critical work of strengthening the leadership, and leadership pipeline, of the Texas Public School System. In its inaugural President, the Center seeks a passionate, tested, and strategic leader who will work tirelessly to cement the preeminence of the Holdsworth programs, and partner with trustees and staff to develop excellent and innovative programs that prove effective in filling the school leadership pipeline for years to come.

Charles Butt, Chairman and CEO of H-E-B and a longtime advocate for public education, founded the Center and named it for his mother, Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth, an educator, philanthropist, and lifelong leader for social justice. Building on her impressive legacy, the Center aspires to create systemic and sustainable improvement across Texas 1,200+ public school districts by supporting and developing its superintendents, principals, and other campus leaders, who, in turn, will significantly and positively impact student achievement.

The Centers district partnerships will span five years and will include immersive experiences for leaders and their teams combined with embedded, in-district support to ensure the learning continues and multiplies between sessions and across the state. The inaugural cohort was launched in June and includes school districts in seven cities across Texas. Plans are underway to build an academic training and retreat center in Austin, which will enhance the immersive learning experience for all cohort participants.

The President will report to a distinguished 17-member board of trustees, and will work closely with the Centers 25 outstanding staff to ensure the Holdsworth experience is a transformative one. The President should be a strategic and creative leader, able both to imagine and design the best Center of its type but also to deliver on that design by converting the Centers aspirations into reality. She or he will inherit a strong leadership team, and will be expected to recruit, retain, and develop expert faculty and staff across all levels who will share the Presidents commitment to excellence and the Centers passion for improving public education in Texas. The President will serve as the chief spokesperson and ambassador for the Center, building key relationships with K-12 leaders and other public education allies across the state. Moreover, as the voice of this new and exciting organization dedicated to improving public education in our country, the President must be a thought leader for issues related to leadership development and teacher quality, and should have the personal gravitas and professional standing to lead national conversations about these critical issues.

The Holdsworth Center has retained Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to assist in the recruitment of its next President. Please direct all applications, nominations, and inquiries to them at www.imsearch.com/6361.

The Holdsworth Center does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national
and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies,
scholarships and other school administered programs.

IM ISAACSON, MILLER