The Brief

In June 2020 Loreto Toorak announced their Principal, Dr Susan Stevens, would retire at the end of 2021 after nearly 20 years in the role. The school has performed extraordinarily well under Dr Steven’s leadership and is very well placed for the future. Loreto sought a Principal who can leverage the current strength of the school and move it further forward in achieving the vision to form young women who are confident, independent, compassionate and gracious, with character and intellectual formation of the highest calibre. The Board of Loreto sought a search partner who would bring deep independent school sector knowledge, strong networks and a transparent and thorough process. Fisher Leadership was appointed to assist after presenting the team’s credentials to the Board.​

Solution Building​

The Fisher Leadership team, led by Managing Partner Liz Jones, undertook a detailed briefing with the Loreto Board followed up by a one on one meeting with the current Principal, Dr Susan Stevens. These briefings provided extensive background on the School, the existing leadership team, the community and the desired profile of the new Principal. It was identified that over the last five years a high performing leadership team had been developed, with the potential for a Principal appointee to come from this group. In addition to managing the applications of three internal candidates, Fisher Leadership completed an in-depth search process, reaching out to over 80 potential candidates and referral partners to gain their insights and potential recommendations. The process included weekly progress discussions with the Chair, and the Fisher Leadership team supported three rounds of panel interviews, psychometric assessment and full reference reports.​

The Outcome​

The Selection Panel were extremely pleased with the candidate field, determining the three final candidates were all appointable, including one Sydney based individual. The appointment of Ms Angela O’Dwyer, currently Executive Deputy Principal at Loreto was announced in early December 2020. Angela has contributed significantly to the progression of student development across academic, pastoral, co-curricular and spiritual programs. ​

​
“The warmth and honesty from Liz throughout the process was very comforting through a stressful process. I believe the Fisher Leadership differentiator is the professionalism of the process. I would absolutely recommend Fisher Leadership.” Angela O’Dwyer, Loreto Toorak​