Leadership

Clare Sisisky is currently the Executive Director of the Global Education Benchmark Group, working to support its member schools around the world in all aspects of global education. Clare has written and spoken on many topics relating to global and intercultural competencies in K-12 education in national and international forums. Prior to beginning her tenure with GEBG in 2018, she spent 8 years at the Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia as the founding Director of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship and the Director of Strategic Planning. Her leadership responsibilities included overseeing all programming, curriculum, and professional development in the ares of global engagement, DEI, service-learning, entrepreneurship, and sustainability. She also led the school’s strategic planning process in partnership with the Head of School and the Board of Trustees. She began at Collegiate as the Director of Global Education, where she created the International Emerging Leaders program and developed a network of 12 partner schools around the world. She previously worked as the director of a humanities magnet high school for a large public school district, for the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations in Beijing, and was on the faculty at Phillips Academy Andover. Clare has an undergraduate degree from George Washington University and a graduate degree from Harvard University where her research included a year-long research fellowship in Mauritius and extended time in India. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania’s MidCareer program at the Graduate School of Education where her research is focused on global competence development in students and teachers. She was a founding board member of the Global Education Benchmark Group (GEBG), served two terms as a board member of the Council for Standards in International Education Travel (CSIET), and currently leads the K-12 working group for the World Council on Intercultural and Global Competence.

Elsie Stapf has been the Director of Operations for the GEBG since 2014, using her expertise in management of all GEBG operations systems to help support member schools as the organization has grown. Elsie continues to focus on membership and leads both the benchmarking data work for GEBG and the execution of the annual Global Educators’ Conference. Prior to her work with the GEBG, Elsie spent 5 years at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut where she supported students as a Gap Year Advisor in the College Advising Office, coordinated several globally focused on-campus programs, led travel programs throughout the world and chaired a class-wide service learning initiative. Previously Elsie also spent time working for the Becket Chimney Corners YMCA where she directed an international youth travel and service program serving more than 200 teens annually, including hiring and training all program leaders. She served as an officer of the board for Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Connecticut and chaired committees. She holds a B.S. in Biology from Truman State University and lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

As the Director of Professional Learning and Curriculum, Chad Detloff supports GEBG’s work with educators who want to infuse their curricula, programs, and schools with education for global competencies. Chad has spent his career seeking to develop self-aware, courageous, empathetic citizens who take on leadership roles to effect positive change in their various, diverse communities. Chad began his journey in this work as a student, studying abroad in Switzerland in high school and in Argentina and Italy in college. Chad spent ten years as the Director of Global Programs at Chadwick School in Southern California, where he led a group of faculty and administrators in creating unique indicators of global citizenship–based on the school’s mission and vision–and developed in-class curricula and travel programming to target these competencies. Chad has worked extensively with student leadership development and has taught a wide array of student-centered, inquiry-based courses in the Humanities and Global Languages disciplines over fourteen years in the classroom. Additionally, Chad has significant experience developing risk-management policies and procedures, training faculty and staff, and creating comprehensive systems and budgets. Previously Chad taught at the University of Barcelona and oversaw a university Spanish language program. Chad graduated from Dartmouth College with a major in Comparative Literature (Spanish and Italian). In his free time, Chad enjoys gardening, cooking, and spending time outdoors with his family.

As GEBG’s Program Manager, Florence plays a leading role in managing GEBG’s Student Dialogues program and our array of professional learning programs. Florence was previously the Director of Global and Community Engagement at Crystal Springs Uplands School in California, leading all aspects of global and community engagement programming and creating thoughtful learning frameworks for these areas. Florence also served as the Dean of Faculty, Director of Curriculum, Director of Global and Experiential Education, and chair of the science department in the Upper School at the International School Campus in Hamburg, Germany, where her accomplishments include establishing a new teacher-evaluation program, designing and implementing a ‘week without walls’ project-based experiential program for all students in first through ninth grade, and preparing teachers for the launch of the IB Diploma program. In addition, Florence’s professional experience includes leading teacher training for Boston Public Schools, serving as a director and dean for Oxbridge Academic Programs, and teaching for five years on the science faculty at Harvard-Westlake School in California. Florence has a master’s degree from Harvard University in education leadership and administration, where she was a Media, Literacy, and Visualization Fellow at the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning; a podcast producer; and member of a committee to support Asian and Asian-American student wellbeing. Florence has an MS in Marine Environmental Biology from the University of Southern California and a BS in Marine Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Florence lives in California, enjoys scuba diving, and speaks conversational Mandarin.