A Special Announcement from the NOLS Board of Trustees Chairperson and New President of NOLS
FROM N. STUART HARRIS, M.D., NOLS BOARD OF TRUSTEES, CHAIR Dear NOLS Community, It gives me great joy to announce on behalf of the Board of Trustees that Sandy Colhoun has been elected the President of NOLS, effective immediately. After an exhaustive process with outstanding candidates, Sandy was the unanimous choice of our Search Committee and our Board. He is the right person for the job. A search is only as good as its process. Search Committee co-chairs, Jane Fried and Danielle Dignan, along with Mary Gorman and her team at Spencer Stuart, led a thorough, thoughtful, equitable search process that solicited input from staff, students, and alumni in the service of finding the right person to lead our community and forward the NOLS mission. A special thank you to Robin Larson and Mike Titzer, whose thoughtful, committee participation in the search committee guided and informed many of our discussions. I am grateful for their work. The Search As we kicked off the search, more than 150 individuals – including instructors, administrative staff, current and former trustees, branch directors, advisory council members, executive team members, and others – spoke with Spencer Stuart, and more than 1,000 members of the NOLS community completed the online survey. The Committee charged Spencer Stuart to look broadly for talent, and the Search Committee reviewed the background of dozens of individuals before inviting ten candidates for a preliminary interview and then selecting four for in-person conversations. The talent, passion, and ability of our candidates were humbling. Candidates included experts in outdoor education, leadership, the sciences, a university president and a dean, writers, Everest climbers, teachers, and senior business leaders. We learned from each of them. Our New President: Sandy Colhoun Earlier this year, Sandy volunteered to step down from the Board to serve as Interim President at a critical time. While Sandy did not intend to consider the long-term role, he had never been so energized by his work and began to seriously consider pursuing the role. This selfless act of generosity exposed his candidacy to tremendous risk. To be clear, Sandy did not benefit from proximity. We are aware of familiarity bias and demanded more from him than any other candidate. As demonstrated by the multiple times that Sandy was nominated, he was recognized by NOLS staff and board members for his work in the position. Sandy navigated a difficult transition and proved himself to be an inspiring leader, a supportive collaborator, and a relationship builder in a changing organizational landscape. Staff members were clear: the school’s financial situation and staff morale required a President who could rapidly address the current financial situation and accelerate the organization’s evolution. With a strategic mindset and a keen ability to assess operations and bring clarity to the school’s complex finances, Sandy met and exceeded these critical requirements. Sandy has also shown an abiding commitment to DEI, recognizing that the NOLS mission benefits from building a warm, inclusive, diverse, and vibrant community. Sandy is a tireless community builder. He has visited nearly half of our fourteen campuses worldwide in the last eight months and met with alumni and friends at various events nationwide. He has assembled a high-functioning executive team that has led NOLS to the best year of philanthropic giving in our history.
Sandy’s personal and professional life has been fueled by his passionate belief in the power of education and the wilderness. Sandy has spent the majority of his career in education institutions, including serving as Chief Campaign Officer at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, where he led a successful $750M campaign. From his days working as the editor of the Antarctic Sun at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, to years leading outdoor trips for young adults, Sandy’s experiences will inform his capacity to lead NOLS at this critical juncture. His love for the school is palpable. He loves spending time outdoors with his wife, Selina, and children, Eloise and Stuart. We could not ask for a more devoted leader dedicated to the success of our mission. Sandy has earned the trust of our Board and our community to enact necessary changes. He is the right person at the right time. One of the best parts of my job is to offer thanks to the members of our community. First and foremost, thank you to our instructors and staff who make the mission possible every day. We are grateful to our presidential search committee co-chairs, Jane Fried and Danielle Dignan, who put in countless hours to ensure we followed best practices to arrive at the right choice. Thank you to the members of our search committee for your hard work and to our community for your faith and service. The last four years have been hard. It was not inevitable that NOLS would survive the unprecedented operational demands of the pandemic. Our prior leaders have my respect, and I am grateful to each of you for your steadfast faith in the importance of our school, our community, and our mission. I love that our NOLS community builds leaders with a steady, quiet humility rooted in expertise and kindness, but the days ahead will require ambitions commensurate with the world’s need for leadership. When our kids one day look back and ask, “Given what you knew then, why were you not working harder to help people understand?” We must have anticipated their question. On climbing towards Denali’s summit in 2011, I have limited recall of how cold my hands were (and they were) or how impervious to teeth my power bars were (like iron), but I fondly remember sharing the company of my fellow NOLS Instructor David Weber and Dawa Sherpa. We are a social, narrative-driven species. We do what we do because of the people we get to share our lives with and the stories we tell. Remarkable people and stories are at the center of NOLS culture. The NOLS mission has never mattered more. In the days ahead, with Sandy’s leadership, we will step forward as a community. “To the real work,” as the poet Gary Snyder writes. “To what is to be done.” Join us. With Gratitude and in Service,
N. Stuart Harris, M.D. NOLS Board of Trustees, Chair
FROM SANDY COLHOUN, PRESIDENT
Dear NOLS Community, Since 1965, the National Outdoor Leadership School has been the leading source and teacher of wilderness skills and leadership that serve people and the environment. It’s my great hope that our founder, Paul Petzoldt, is looking on with pride and amazement that the small school he founded has grown to become such an important resource for training, inspiration, and leadership worldwide. It is a great honor and a profound responsibility to serve as the next President of NOLS. Clearly, we have a considerable amount of work before us to fulfill our highest potential. I’m committed to the path and grateful for the opportunity the Board of Trustees has given me to take this journey with all of you. As I look out at the landscape of our nation and the entire world, it is clear to me that the mission of NOLS has never been more important. Elevating the leader in every student, whether they be on a wilderness expedition or a wilderness medicine course, is at the heart of what we do. Creating leaders for a stronger tomorrow is a resource this world desperately needs. And we are blessed with the most powerful classroom on the planet to do this work: the wilderness. From glaciated valleys in the Himalayas to rivers running through the American southwest, from the Wyss campus in Wyoming to a Wilderness Medicine classroom in California, our work is grounded in wild and austere environments. Our world-class instructors are changing the world in these classrooms, one student at a time. While much work must be done, we have much to be proud of. We need to look no further than a course returning from the field, to see the grit, joy, and determination in the sparkling eyes of our students. They emerge from their NOLS course with a better understanding of themselves and what they’re capable of accomplishing. When a student finishes a wilderness medicine course and goes on to rescue a neighbor or family member, the power of our education is brought to life. We know that NOLS changes lives and saves lives. At the heart of our work are two cornerstones. First are our instructors, regarded worldwide as the finest outdoor leadership and wilderness medicine educators. The second is our focus on risk management, which sets the standard for the outdoor industry and one that we will continue to support and enhance. Together, these two core strengths of the school constitute our DNA. From these pillars, we draw our core strength and unique market position.
I look forward to hearing from and working with all of you in the months ahead. There remains a great deal for me to learn about our school and all of you, but I am dedicated to taking the principles of leadership that I first explored on a Wind River Mountaineering course in 1987 and putting them into practice in service of our mission. I’m also grateful for the support of the Board of Trustees, the Advisory Council, and all our alumni, each of whom plays a vital role in the success of our school. Finally, I share my profound gratitude for my colleagues on the Executive Team and leaders across the school who have worked tirelessly to make NOLS a stronger school. Their hard work, dedication, and passion for our institution are immeasurable. Thank you for your support of me and our school. Being elected to serve as the president of the world’s preeminent leadership organization is humbling. In the weeks and years ahead, I look forward to partnering with all of you to ensure that our school continues to thrive, that our impact grows and scales to serve evermore students, and that together, we help make our students’ lives and the world a better place. Thank you, and I look forward to continuing this worthy expedition together. In Service,
Sandy Colhoun President