Bethany Di Napoli
Each month RG175 does a "deeper dive" to get to know one of our Independent School colleagues. This month we are spotlighting Bethany Di Napoli, Executive Director of the Independent School Chairpersons Association (ISCA) since 2017. Bethany was first introduced to ISCA as a member when she served as Board Chair of St. Michael’s Country Day School in Newport, RI from 2012 - 2017. Bethany has been very involved in independent schools since 2002 when the first of her four children began attending St. Michael’s Country Day School. She has served as a parent volunteer, President of the Parents Association, Trustee and Board Chair. Bethany also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Island Moving Company, a contemporary ballet company in Newport, Rhode Island. Bethany’s professional background is in nutrition and public health having served as a Senior Public Health Promotion Specialist for the Rhode Island Department of Health for 10 years. Prior to that, Bethany worked at Tufts Medical Center and Lawrence General Hospital in Massachusetts.
Bethany received her B.S. degree from the University of Vermont in Dietetics and Applied Nutrition and her M.S. degree from Syracuse University in Human Nutrition/ Sports Nutrition. She lives in Newport, RI with her husband and four children. To read more about ISCA, please go to their website: https://iscachairs.org
What do you enjoy most about your job as it pertains to Independent Schools?
As a former board chair of an independent school who benefitted from the resources and support I received as an ISCA member, I now get to play a pivotal role in providing those resources and support to other board chairs. That is so gratifying! Similar to any job that is truly satisfying, it is so because you believe you are making a positive impact on something you care about and you have meaningful connections to the people you work with or serve. I have great empathy and respect for the challenging role independent school board chairs play in their school community. First and foremost, they are volunteers; volunteers who hold the highest and most influential volunteer leadership role in their school community. The future success of the school depends on a strong Board Chair/Head partnership and the ability of the board chair to effectively navigate his/her governance responsibilities. I love that ISCA is the only organization dedicated exclusively to supporting independent school Board Chairs in their governance leadership role.
What are some of your greatest achievements?
I just completed my third year as Executive Director of ISCA and am most proud of the expanded program offerings we now provide to our members as well as how much more connected we are as an organization. In addition to our annual governance conference and online discussion forum that ISCA has always offered, our members now hear from ISCA every week through our Weekly Chair Posts. We added several webinars a year, a Peer Advisor Program, a special training for new board chairs, and we have created an extensive resource library. Our membership has doubled in the past three years and that is something that I am very proud of.
How has Covid-19 affected your job/business and how have you adapted?
With the onset of COVID-19 I became a lot busier trying to provide Board Chairs with the support and resources they needed to navigate this new unchartered landscape. ISCA started a COVID-19 resource page, offered special webinars and created ‘Chair Chats’ to allow board chairs to talk to each other, share information and experiences and support each other. We have been creating as many opportunities as possible for board chairs to get access to expert advice, resources and support during this pandemic.
What is your connection to RG175?
ISCA’s relationship with RG175 began in March 2019 when Tom Olverson conducted an excellent webinar for our members on transforming the head search process. Over the next several months Tom and I stayed in communication and that led to an introduction to John Farber and the RG175 team. In the past 6 months, we have been so fortunate to have Tom, John and other RG175 consultants share their expertise with our ISCA members through our weekly Chair Posts, Chair Chats, and ‘New Chair at the Table ’training for new board chairs. I look forward to connecting on future programs with the RG175 team!
Anything else you would like to add?
I would add that I am excited about the growing partnership ISCA is building with RG175. The whole team at RG175 has been incredibly supportive of the work we are doing at ISCA and they are helping us get the word out to Heads and Board Chairs who may not know about us. Our ISCA members also really benefit from having access to the expertise and perspectives of the RG175 consultants and we are grateful that RG175 has been so generous to our ISCA community.