WESTMINSTER
| SPRING 2010
| BULLETIN
Closing Thoughts Leading Transformation with Remarkable Continuity By Richard W. Miller P’86, ’89 Former Assistant Headmaster
When you know how a story turns out, it’s easy to forget how it began. In 1992, Donald Werner announced his decision to retire from Westminster the following year, after serving 33 years, 23 as headmaster. A nationwide search began and narrowed to three candidates, scheduled to visit the campus that winter. Brief bios of the candidates included a Graham Cole and his wife, Carol.
For 20 years, Graham had served in several capacities at The Lawrenceville School, a large, fouryear coeducational boarding and day school near Princeton, N.J. Would someone from a large school fit well at Westminster? In addition, Graham was also the oldest of the three candidates. We wanted someone with energy to lead our school: his age concerned some of us. Well, when the Coles, the last of the candidates, finally visited our campus, we fell in love with them, and they with us. The Coles expressed a sincere interest in a smaller school and saw many advantages in being part of one. They also connected, demonstrating energy, vitality, and a great warmth and lively interest in others. It banished any doubts, and shortly after their visit, we were thrilled to hear that Graham had accepted Westminster’s invitation to become its seventh headmaster. Nonetheless, the transition to a new headmaster raises considerable anxiety. First of all, recent heads had come from within. How would we function under the leadership of a person who had never been a part of the school? What kind of access would faculty, staff and students have to the headmaster? Would the new head and the
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board of trustees get along? Would he seek new directions? Would we lose what made us unique? We had seen other schools in recent years come to regret their decision and replace a new headmaster in fairly short order. We hoped that the Coles and the school had each made the right choice. Some answers came soon. For two years prior to the Coles’ arrival in the summer of 1993, Westminster had been engaged in a strategic planning process, led by Jack Sherwin. The plan represented countless hours of work on the part of all constituents of the school: it was now in place, ready for implementation. Shortly after the Coles arrived on campus, Graham, expressing some trepidation, mentioned to me that he was going to meet with Jack Sherwin, hoping to get his blessing to revisit and perhaps seriously revise the strategic plan, especially because it envisioned no new buildings. Apparently, that meeting went well. It initiated a process that repeated itself over the years as faculty, staff and trustees considered Westminster’s future and sought to establish it in the front ranks of the nation’s private boarding schools. The most obvious element: Westminster’s remarkable physical transformation, from the renovation of Memorial to the Armour Academic Center and everything in between. That transformation has been truly striking. Consider for a moment that in 1993 there was no Edge House, no lower fields, no regulation-size squash courts, no usable pool, a small, windowless weight room and an even smaller exercise room. The current college counseling center was the site of the health center. The school lacked a campus master plan. How to account for such a dramatic transformation? It resides in leadership. Through his energy, openness and willingness to challenge