Meet the Elevate Team

Ross is the founding partner of EXPLO Elevate, leading our consulting team after making significant contributions at the independent schools he has served. Beginning his career with eight years as a middle and upper school English teacher at Providence Day School, he served in significant leadership roles at Asheville School, Hawken School, The Westminster Schools, and St. George’s Independent School. 

He serves, or has served, on the boards of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools, and Bridges USA. He and his wife Katie also served as members of the Family Partners Council at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital.

Growing up in Richmond, Virginia, Ross was a 13-year graduate of St. Christopher’s School. From there earned a BA in English at Sewanee: The University of the South, followed with an M.Ed from the University of Georgia. While he is deeply appreciative of the remarkable gift of education he received at every level, his best learning has resulted from being an educator working with students, whether as a classroom teacher or as a school leader.

Ross has long immersed himself in strategic and aligned school cultures. His achievements include founding an integrated humanities department and establishing an honor system at a small, 100-year-old Asheville School, and, as upper school director, creating an urban campus at both Hawken School and The Westminster Schools. As head of school at St. George’s Independent School, he mobilized that experience to help a younger school maintain the forward-thinking qualities that make it unique.

His belief in the value of independent schools is based on this idea: In order to create the education our students need and deserve, schools must mirror the qualities of great students. Thus, in order to deserve the investment we ask others to make, our learning curve should remain steep, and our dedication to the values we deem most important should be unwavering.

A widely published poet and photographer, Ross has completed work on a collection of poetry entitled The Flood is Not the River, and he contributed the foreword and over 100 photographs for a book entitled, Sacred Views: St. Francis and the Sacro Monte di Orta (Punctum Press, May 2020).

Susan is a proven, experienced interdependent, and relational educational leader who thrives in the nexus of campus life having served in executive and leadership roles at independent schools (Governor’s Academy, Phillips Academy, Asheville School, Ravenscroft School) and in higher education (Duke University and Smith College). 

Susan is a certified executive coach and certified facilitator of the EQi-2.0, EQ 360 (Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 and 360) to support human performance and development in educational settings. For more than a decade, she has completed extensive training in leadership development and team facilitation with the Center for Creative Leadership. She is certified as a facilitator of the Better Conversations Every Day™ training tool, which assists schools in creating vertical alignment with a feedback culture through developing and sustaining behavioral communication skills at all levels. She is the Associate Head of School for Wellness and Belonging at Forsyth Country Day School in Lewisville, North Carolina.

Susan has served on two National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) committees charged with examining best practices and providing recommendations to ensure the safety, health, and well-being of students, including being appointed to the NAIS/Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) Independent School Task Force on Educator Sexual Abuse Prevention and Response.  In 2014, Susan appeared as an expert panelist on PBS/UNC-TV’s Focus On: Educating Black Boys, which explored issues around education, opportunity, race, identity, and parenting in the 21st century. Additionally, Susan has completed the Racial Equity Institute Groundwater and Phase 1 training and The Principals’ Center (TPC) at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education (HGSE) program in Race, Equity, and Leadership in Schools. Her clinical training has included two separate in-residence internships at Duke University, and she has completed Advanced Clinical Certification in The Relational Model Levels I & II at the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute, part of the Stone Center, Wellesley Center for Women (WCW) at Wellesley College. 

Susan is a published author and holds an earned doctorate in educational administration. She has served as consultant/advisor/educator to boards of trustees, executive leaders, faculty, families, and students, and has traveled extensively as a conference speaker and trainer nationwide. 

David Torcoletti began his teaching career at Amherst College before joining the teaching faculty at Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH). In addition to teaching photography at NMH, he served as a residence hall director, co-directed the peer education program, and was dean of the Mount Hermon campus with its 600 students and 100 faculty. As one of the school’s original school deans, David was responsible for all aspects of faculty support and evaluation, as well as student life, for a group of 25 faculty and 125 students. He initiated the CORE team response to drug and alcohol issues, was certified by the Community Intervention Program on drug and alcohol issues, and was awarded both the Residential Life and the Campus Dean Awards. He worked on a variety of projects, from rewriting the student handbook to designing the new schedule, to reconceptualizing student advising, and updating the mission statement. He is a graduate of the Stanley King Counseling Institute.

From NMH, David headed to Milton Academy, where he served as dean of students and on the teaching faculty before joining EXPLO full-time as head of the Junior Program for students in grade four through seven, which he ran until 2022. At EXPLO, David worked across all programs, advising on curriculum, running professional development programs, and drafting dean and residence director handbooks. He has presented at a variety of conferences on student life with particular interests in why schools struggle with boys.

David has done audits and assessments at a variety of independent schools on student life, health and wellness centers, faculty,  and curriculum. He’s also served as a Riverbank Colleague—an executive coach—to a number of school administrators. He’s a summa BFA graduate of Ohio University, and earned his MFA from Bard College as a Milton Avery Scholar, the highest distinction in the MFA program. He regularly exhibits his work in galleries and museums, and has been awarded a Massachusetts Arts Council Grant. He’s a life-long audiophile, and of late has moved from a digital drum set to a full jazz drum kit, diligently working on his paradiddles for his weekly lessons.

Tung Trinh currently serves as the dean of faculty at Collegiate School, a JK-12 school in Richmond, Virginia. There, he manages the overall scope and sequence of the JK-12 curriculum, and is responsible for faculty professional development, recruitment, and retention. Previously, he was Collegiate’s head of the middle school (516 students), as well as head of the middle school and middle school dean of students at Garrison Forest School in Owings Mills, Maryland, an all-girls preschool-12th grade with a boarding program. Tung started his teaching career at Shore Country Day School in Beverly, Massachusetts in the History and Social Studies department, where he also served as department chair.

While working with middle schoolers, Tung has developed a deep appreciation for the tremendous authenticity and growth that takes place during early adolescence. He particularly enjoys conceiving programming around community building, advisory activities, social-emotional learning, parent partnerships, interdisciplinary curriculum development. 

Tung holds a master’s degree from Lesley University and earned his BA at Bowdoin College, where he captained the indoor and outdoor track teams. He has served on an AIMs accreditation team, presented at NAIS on division heads, and is a graduate of the Stanley King Counseling Institute. His teaching and curriculum development have been showcased in the New York Times Learning Network. He is fluent in Vietnamese.

An entrepreneur, educator, and community development specialist, Sara has 25 years of experience across five continents and over 15 countries, giving her an abiding appreciation for the power of people committed to the future of their communities.

Sara is the founder of Anchor Schools, a social impact advisory firm working to transform the role schools play in our communities. Prior to launching her own venture, she consulted to schools and nonprofits, including on start-up strategy and curriculum design for Future Leadership School (Hainan Province, China). As program director for global programs at African Leadership Academy (Johannesburg, South Africa) she led programs for students and educators from around the world that generated revenue for academy scholarships. At Hawken School (Cleveland, Ohio) she led global programs and was the founding director of The Sally and Bob Gries Center for Experiential and Service Learning, a community-based learning model for independent schools. Sara served six years on the board of directors of ISEEN (Independent Schools Experiential Education Network), has been on the advisory board of International Partners in Mission (IPM), and a Trustee of the Great Lakes Basin Conservancy since 2005.

Sara started her professional life in the humanitarian assistance sector, addressing systemic poverty and injustice through civil society and education capacity-building in post-conflict contexts, including nine years with Catholic Relief Services. A multi-country initiative she led in the Balkans called Parent-School-Partnerships sparked her passion to transform schools into levers for change.

Sara holds a BA in Anthropology from Amherst College, an MA in International Development and Social Change from Clark University, and an MS.Ed in Education Entrepreneurship from University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Haden is the founder and President of the Academy for Advancing Leadership (AAL).  Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Atlanta, AAL has worked with more than 150 universities around the world and thousands of faculty members and students through professional development, consulting, and coaching services.  He is the author of The 9 Virtues of Exceptional Leaders (Deeds, 2015), 31 Days with the Virtues (Deeds, 2020), and more than 80 articles in educational policy and ethics.  Dr. Haden holds degrees in religious studies, the humanities, and earned his Ph.D. in philosophy.

Tyton believes in the power of education to change lives and communities. It’s a belief shared by companies, organizations, institutions, and investors across a rapidly evolving landscape they call the Global Knowledge Sector. It’s an ecosystem Tyton understands better than anyone else. They know its transactions, trends, technologies, and thought leaders. They know what’s happened. And what’s coming next.

Tyton’s impact is driven by a diverse team of experts and educators, operators and advisors, and visionaries and changemakers who leverage an exceptional network of global relationships. Together with their clients, they’re transforming the education ecosystem for the better.

Adam Newman is Tyton’s Founder and Managing Partner. He began his professional career as a K–12 educator and athletic coach at schools in Boston, MA, and New Orleans, LA. He holds an AB in English from Duke University.