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.

Melissa leads GEBG’s work in intercultural dialogue and our global dialogues program. She is a skilled facilitator and leads numerous programs for educators and students, collaborates with schools to develop intercultural competence and design competency-based global education initiatives, and supports many of GEBG professional learning programs. With over 30 years of experience in public and independent schools, Melissa is a dedicated school leader and National Board Certified language teacher. Most recently, Melissa spent 15 years as the Director of Diversity, Wellbeing, and Global Education at Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland. At the forefront of shaping Holton’s educational philosophy, "Learn Well, Live Well, Lead Well" (LW3), Melissa was instrumental in fostering an environment that puts this philosophy into practice using a competency-based approach to academic excellence, social-emotional growth, and intercultural proficiency. Through close collaboration with cross-divisional teams, Melissa spearheaded innovative curricular and co-curricular initiatives tailored to grades 3-12, and played a pivotal role in the school’s hiring process and designed countless professional development initiatives. Melissa ensured that inclusion and equity were not just ideals but lived experiences across the school community. Melissa served multiple terms as a Board Member of the GEBG, and currently serves as a board member for both the International Coalition of Girls Schools. Melissa is the co-author of NAFSA’s manual on health and safety for secondary study abroad programs, and is a frequent presenter at professional conferences on topics related to experiential program design, faculty leadership, whole-school approaches to strategic change, and intercultural competence development for students and faculty.

Leah Rockwell, Licensed Professional Counselor, is a trauma therapist and former school administrator and global programming director. During her tenure as a global program director, she assisted in having her school become a grateful member of the GEBG community. In clinical practice, Leah specializes in supporting clients to heal from trauma, anxiety, and chronic stress. Her consulting work focuses on training educators in how to approach their work in a trauma-informed way to maximize student well-being, in addition to their own.

Marley Aloe Matlack is the Director of the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies at The Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, CT. An international educator since 2004, Marley has extensive experience in the areas of program development, risk management, and strategic planning. With her special focus on the interconnection of global and environmental studies, Marley (and her team) create off-campus travel programs, on-campus sustainability and place- based projects, and professional development opportunities that provide students and faculty with the opportunity to enhance their knowledge, values, and attitudes about the world’s systems and build skills that prepare them to take action to make positive and lasting change. Marley also has a strong interest in developing global competency assessment tools, which she explored as a 2021-2022 GEBG Global Action Research Fellow.

Marley has a B.A. in Environmental Science from Wesleyan University, an M.S.W in Social Work from The University of Connecticut, an M.A. in International Education from The School for International Training (SIT), and a Certificate in Place Based Education from Antioch University.