Kim Newsome:
Independent school veteran the perfect fit for Senior Consultant role at The Jane Group
Growing up as the daughter of a history teacher and also a student at a day school in Cincinnati, Kim Newsome got the full independent school experience as a kid. She saw first-hand the multiple hats her dad wore throughout his career, including counselor, department chair and head of upper school. But when thinking about a career for herself, “It was never something I thought I would do,” she said. After graduation, she went on to Princeton, and then started a successful corporate career in retail.
Some years later though, after she and her husband welcomed their first child, she felt a pull towards a career with meaning. Around the same time her dad told her about an opening as director of summer programs at The Madeira School. Even though she had little experience with summer programs, she decided to take a chance. “I just fell in love with it,” Kim remembers. She also found that working with students gave the position meaning and purpose, and knew she was really making a difference. “Madeira’s summer program was really transformative for a lot of kids,” she said. “After that I was hooked.” So she followed her dad’s footsteps in independent school leadership, and over the next two decades, in addition to director of summer programs, served as dean of students and then director of enrollment management.
I’m thrilled because I love partnering with schools, learning about them and helping them.
Three years ago, change came again when her family moved out of state. “I was ready to take some time off,” Kim said. But soon after, an opportunity became available as consultant at The Jane Group, working with co-founders Jane and Jim Hulbert. Kim had known Jane and Jim for nearly her entire career at Madeira. “Early on our head of school brought them in to do crisis readiness training with the leadership team,” Kim said. “I always admired the wisdom they shared with our team.” So Kim joined The Jane Group as its senior consultant in 2021.
TJG's founding partner Jane Hulbert shared, "Kim's 20-plus years of school leadership and her excellent communications and crisis management skills have created great value for our clients. We are delighted to have her on the team."
Kim said of her role, “I’m able to use all of my knowledge as a school administrator, and that’s the lens through which I approach a lot of the work that we do.” For the past three years Kim has worked alongside Jane and Jim partnering with schools all over the world, sharing her unique perspective as an indie school “insider,” and finding that the work she does rewarding. “I’m thrilled because I love partnering with schools, learning about them and helping them. It’s a partnership, it really is.”
Kim’s Top 3 Crisis Preparedness Tips
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Don’t wait. Many schools think they have to wait ‘to see what happens,’ thinking it won’t become a problem. It’s important to get out in front of something that’s brewing before it gets to be a big deal because It’s much harder to control after the fact. It might just be a quick phone call to us and we can help you talk it out and see where it might go, and how to resolve it before it blows up.
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Be Prepared. Invest the time with your team to prepare for different scenarios. If there was a fire, what’s the protocol? Where are the crisis manuals? Who has the phone chain list? Get all of these things together so when something happens you don’t waste critical time. We can help with training and tabletop exercises for your teams.
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It doesn’t have to be a crisis to be a crisis. Even positive things like a school rebrand or launch of new programs or new building projects can be fraught with misunderstanding and panic if they aren’t communicated properly. We can give perspective on whatever changes you are implementing, and can help you roll it out in the best possible way.