Anne Conway Juster ’80

2025 Laurel School Distinguished Alumna

Educator, Civic Leader, and Philanthropist

Laurel's Distinguished Alumna honor is given to one alumna who is prominent in her field of endeavor and who has already celebrated her 20th reunion. Anne Conway Juster '80 graduated from Middlebury College with a degree in sociology. She then earned a master’s in education from Tufts University and served for over a decade as a middle school social studies teacher in Providence, RI, and Cleveland. In the late 1990s, she was hired as the first Facing History and Ourselves (FHAO) employee in Cleveland, tasked with launching the local office for the now international organization.

In 2012, Anne earned a second master’s in positive organizational development from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management and went on to become Director of the Cleveland School Garden Partnership at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. There, she designed and implemented a program engaging students from underserved communities in outdoor learning, feeding her passion for learning in partnership with nature.

Anne has also held the positions of Board Chair and President of the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation and co-founded and serves as Board Chair of Spice Field Kitchen, an organization that empowers individuals of all ages to grow, prepare, and engage with food in ways that transform their health and communities.

Described as a mentor, a visionary, and a quintessential “servant leader,” Anne has consciously chosen to engage with organizations aimed at progressive social change. She chaired Laurel’s search for a Head of School, which brought Ann V. Klotz to Lyman Circle, and subsequently served as Chair of Laurel’s Board of Trustees for six years. During her tenure as Board Chair, the two Ann(e)s oversaw an ambitious strategic planning process, steered and implemented a historic gift that launched the programmatic development of Laurel’s Butler Campus, and traveled the world to visit alumnae while also establishing cultural partnerships with schools in China and Japan.