GILL — Brian Hargrove will be Northfield Mount Hermon School’s next head of school.
Hargrove will begin in that role on July 1.
“NMH stands as one of the great schools in our nation,” Hargrove said. “Its mission, history and promise for the future afford all of us a remarkable opportunity at this important moment in the life of our school.”
Hargrove has 20 years of experience in education, during which he has worked in senior administrative roles for 14 years. He also worked for five years in private sector businesses. He is now in his seventh year as assistant head of school for advancement and communications at Mercersburg Academy, a coed boarding and day school of about 440 students in Mercersburg, Pa., with a history that goes back to the early 1880s.
Hargrove has said, as head of the school, some of his goals will include increasing the school’s connections to the surrounding community and helping the administration to operate effectively.
Hargrove was chosen by the Board of Trustees from a pool of nearly 60 applicants.
“He understands the rich, strong culture of NMH, and personally embodies the school’s mission of humanity and purpose,” said Board of Trustees Chairwoman Mariah Draper Calagione.
Northfield Mount Hermon’s previous head of school, Peter Fayroian, left the school in June, having announced his plan to do so in December 2017.
Since Fayroian’s departure, Charles A. Tierney has served as interim head of school. Tierney has worked in various capacities at Northfield Mount Hermon since 1998, excluding a period from 2014 to 2016, when he worked as the head of the Tatnall School in Delaware. Prior to becoming the interim head of school on July 1, Tierney was the associate head since 2016.
NMH has its roots in a girls school and a boys school founded by evangelist Dwight Moody about 1880. In 1971 NMH became a single co-ed boarding and day preparatory school, which consolidated into its current Gill campus in 2005. Today enrollment is about 665, from 58 countries and 31 states, according to the school. About 83 percent are boarding students. It has about 100 faculty.