Retiring Trustees

Posted on Nov 6, 2014

Kitty Gordan
Milton Academy Board of Trustees, 2006–2014

During her eight years on Milton’s board, Kitty brought the wisdom of her deep school experience to serve — generously and graciously — the head of school, all of us as trustees, and the adults and children at Milton today, and through the importance of her work, for years to come.

Kitty is reliably open and consistently positive. Her appreciation for how myriad pieces contribute to a whole bigger than the sum of the parts is always evident in her comments. No aspect of school life has been outside her interest, and she is consistently both constructive and supportive.

Kitty is a model for saying “yes” and then meaning “yes.” Asked to spend gorgeous summer mornings here on campus, she and Warren and the faculty carefully crafted the charter of that organization that secures communication between the board, the administration and the faculty: the Faculty Council. She was an astute listener and key participant on the Trustee Faculty Council Liaison Committee. Kitty is a champion of excellence and accountability, coupled with a deep understanding of — and empathy for — the very human tendencies of adults, children and organizations, all striving to become better at what they do.

We all listened carefully (it was always worthwhile) to Kitty’s carefully composed, beautifully rendered reports from the Enrollment Committee, which she chaired in its earlier life, and now from Academic Affairs, Student Life and Enrollment, which she co-chairs.

Kitty may know more about Milton than most of us do. She served on at least one long-range financial planning effort; she chaired the Enrollment Capacity Study, analyzing the factors that affect the size and character of the School and how they intersect; and thanks to her son John, who graduated in 1996, Kitty knew residential life at Milton, and she could mark our progress over the last decade in real terms.

She helped us learn about ourselves, by situating Milton within the encompassing world of independent schools: how our faculty work, and how they feel about their work; how we navigate the complex “dance” involved in enrolling students; how we’ve progressed as a board and a school; and how significant and bold a plan we’ve adopted.

Kitty always expressed genuine delight and joy about the work of educating young people. We’ll honor her spirit and do our best to honor her amazing work ethic. Thank you, Kitty, for your friendship, and your inspired and devoted service to Milton.

Og Hunnewell ’70
Milton Academy Board of Trustees, 1993–2014

We’ve long joked about Og really being on staff at Milton. It’s no joke. Og’s style — and the results surround us — is “hands-on.”

Og has been on task for every project from 1993 until today: from brainstorming through dedication, from architectural studies through value engineering, from issues of capacity and function and cost, through small-scale finishes that set a look and feel.

In 1996, Og led the questioning about what kind of space the Athletic and Convocation Center should be.

In 2002, at midproject, he asked why we wouldn’t render some valuable classroom space at the top of Warren Hall as long as we were renovating.

In 2004, he pondered how to design a doorway through Hallowell that connected it to the new quad but didn’t risk severing a unified house.

In 2006, Og led the team that built our now-beloved Pritzker Science Center.

Og ushered in Milton’s “modern era,” that period of time in which we realized that our facilities need to support the excellence of our program; that shabby gentility may have been our signature, but that providing a quality educational experience for students is our responsibility.

At once attentive to function, aesthetics, tradition, scale and cost, Og thinks like a planner and a problem solver. He is completely responsive to Milton’s needs: those that are known, the subjects of long-term planning, and those that emerge “overnight” on a campus of 125 acres and 52 buildings. Old buildings and grounds present problems, of all sizes and varieties, without warning. New administrations find that exciting new programs urgently need well-purposed space.

And he’s reluctant to let a valuable opportunity pass. It was Og, many years ago, who suggested that the old science building might serve the visual arts department very well.

Og is just as focused on gnarly, inglorious problems as he is on sparkly, dramatic solutions. He has diligently studied faculty housing, ADA implications, lighting and way finding, among many other things.

He is the guardian angel of deferred maintenance, educating us, exhorting us, sometimes successfully, about the importance of tending to our assets prudently.

Og’s legacy, and more than two decades of institutional history, is alive in the physical campus, so well used by faculty and staff, students, alumni and parents — the campus that many carry in their minds’ eyes as Milton Academy’s visual iconography and memory bank.

Hunnewell history and Milton history are woven together. Og’s brother Bob and cousin Meg graduated from Milton, as did his uncle Tom and his father, James. Og’s trustee years preceded and continued beyond his sons’ time at Milton: Brad graduated in ’05, Nick in ’08, and Will in ’09.

How fitting that Og’s role in the life of the School connects his father’s Milton years, his own, his sons’ experiences in classrooms and on the fields, and Milton students’ lives today. We hope, in years to come, Og’s grandchildren will enjoy the Milton campus he helped so much to realize.

We are so grateful for your full attention, devotion and skill. You have helped us develop a new sense of place without losing the Milton we love.

Warren McFarlan ’55
Milton Academy Board of Trustees, 2001–2014

For 13 years, we have counted on Warren’s willing agreement to share every challenge that confronted Milton, from recruiting our head of school, to resolving the abatement issue, to setting strategic planning in motion.

We shouldn’t be surprised to find, then, that at several pivotal points, Warren’s unique leadership skills helped orient us and define our future.

In 2002, Head of School Robin Robertson asked Warren to launch our drive to put Milton science on the map. That effort began with a department-wide self-study, and Warren set the template for the kind of assessment that is a strategic priority today: It had a wide scope — facilities, curriculum, resources, teaching, impact over time. The department was fully involved; alumni opinions figured in; a visiting team reviewed; and the report provided the roadmap for the Pritzker’s architectural design, for growth in teaching, curriculum expansion, and enhanced student experience.

Later, Warren was among the team of diplomats who built connections among faculty, administration and the board. He helped draft the Faculty Council charter, a living symbol of his belief that a thriving institution understands and honors the respective roles of all the people who are part of the whole; and that communication — high in quality and plenty of it — sustains that mutual respect.

As chair of the Trustee Faculty Council Liaison Committee, Warren set its course — with openness, accessibility, fairness and balance. He was a trustworthy emissary for everyone, listening intently, sharing, appropriately registering or diffusing concern. Warren helped the faculty, and the board, gain awareness and experience about the roles we play and our discrete responsibilities. A guardian of good governance, he appreciated its value and its impact on our credibility.

With roots in teaching, business, technology, Asia, and donor relations, Warren understands the intersection of business and education, of goal setting and fund raising. He is the model “big picture” guy.

Always well read and well prepared, Warren was ready to offer perspective — with humor, humility, anecdote and even an apt homily now and then. He entertained us, educated us, and exhorted us, with a signature smile and a twinkle in his eye. Regardless of what we asked of him, he was physically, intellectually and emotionally present.

Warren has been a wise counsel, a diligent trustee, and a loyal, passionate supporter of his School, and we thank him.

Erika Mobley ’86
Milton Academy Board of Trustees, 2007–2014

Erika is one of those special trustees who enthusiastically agrees to serve despite the distance between two coasts, the challenges of an intense career, and having very young children. She simply asked us to wait a bit while she lived in Australia, until she moved back to California.

A true utility infielder who brought broad competence, insight and intellectual energy to all of her work on the board, Erika was tapped for committees where her expertise was especially valuable. On Enrollment (in her earlier years) and External Relations, her creative ideas for communication and connection elevated our sense of what was possible.

On Academic Affairs, Student Life and Enrollment, Erika explored the life of the School today, and she affirmed her great love for what Milton gave her. Erika was refreshingly open and expressive about her powerful urge to honor Milton and to give back to Milton a measure of what she felt she had received.

Erika was on everyone’s short list for every project-based trustee committee. When asked, she willingly agreed to join the Institutional Brand Council, the Enrollment Capacity task force, the Trustee Committee
and the Technology Advisory Council, even though she sometimes needed to be a player on a conference call at 6 a.m., her time.

Erika’s commencement address to the Class of 2009 was a particularly important gift to the School. In sharing her story with graduates, she highlighted exactly those values and qualities we hope we develop in students, and we hope they sustain over a lifetime: the ability to live a life that dares to be true to who you are; the desire to set and meet the highest expectations; the eagerness to use every opportunity you can to keep learning.

We are very grateful for Erika’s contributions to Milton’s great progress over her time as a trustee, and we look forward to her continued participation on the Technology Advisory Council and in the life of the School in years to come.