GYLI Board of Directors
John Strudwick, Board Chair
Head of School--Lake Forest Academy, IL
Kim Bouldin-Jones, Board Vice Chair
Teacher/Counselor--John Burroughs School, MO
Ward Ghory, Board Treasurer
Head of School--University School of Milwaukee, WI
Gloria Harper, Board Secretary
Chief Program Officer--Golden Apple Foundation, IL
Jim Stuart, Trustee
Independent School Association of the Central States (ISACS), IL
John Braman, Founder
Global Youth Leadership Institute, NM
Kirk Zafirovski
GYLI Alumnus
Bucknell University Class of '09, PA
Justin Brandon
Dean of Class of 2010--Episcopal Academy, PA
Carl Hobert
Executive Director--Axis of Hope, MA
Brief Biographies
Kim Bouldin-Jones
Kim Bouldin-Jones is the Vice-Chair of the board of directors for the Global Youth Leadership Institute. She started with the GYLI program in 2003 and has been a part of GYLI ever since. Kim also works in global disease prevention and education which has taken her from South America to Africa where she works with both government and non-government organizations to combat many health related issues, including HIV, Malaria and TB. Kim recently received the Health-Care Hero award in public policy from Anthem/Blue Cross and the St.Louis Business Journal.Her consulting firm of KBJ Consulting has worked with agencies such as the Pontifical Health-care Council on Pastoral Care, Vatican City, UNICEF, Bethzatha Health-care, and the Ministries of Health for the countries of Ethiopia, Ecuador and Zimbabwe. KBJ Consulting is also a member of United Nations Civil Society Organizations for HIV, which is involved in the millennium development goals for 2010. In 2008, Kim organized and managed the HIV Testing and Awareness Week in Kampala, Uganda for the entire city of two million.
Along with her day job as a Health teacher and Counselor at the John Burroughs School in St. Louis, she has been the key note speaker and a presenter to numerous national and international conferences on global health topics. Along with her Global Health work, Kim has started a non-profit, Medical Facility Aid which raises awareness and funding for infrastructure improvements in hospitals in the developing world.
Kim is a member of the Global AIDS Roundtable in Washington, DC. She also chairs the Global Health Network in St. Louis, MO. She and her husband, Toren, live in O'Fallon, Missouri with their three children, Brandon, Devon and Erin.
Ward Ghory
Ward Ghory attended Yale University, graduating magna cum laude with an interdisciplinary major in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature, while completing teacher certification with student teaching in the New Haven Public Schools. Ward’s career to date can be divided into three phases:1) thirteen years in the Cincinnati Public Schools as a high school teacher, the founder of an desegregation-magnet alternative school, the evaluator of an urban school improvement program, and the assistant principal of a college preparatory high school. During this time period, Ward earned a doctorate in curriculum studies at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, completing dissertation research on factors influencing the engagement of students on the margins of 31 alternative schools in six New England states;
2) twelve years as Director of the Upper School at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, MA. During this time period, Ward co-authored two books with Robert L. Sinclair, Reaching Marginal Students (based on his dissertation), and Reaching and Teaching All Children (based on their school improvement work in the Coalition for Equality in Learning in eight school districts).
3) eight years as Head of School of University School of Milwaukee. During this time, Ward has led the school through two strategic plans and is completing the $45 million Next Generation campaign for endowment and for facilities.
Gloria West Harper
Gloria West Harper currently serves as Chief Program Officer of the Golden Apple Foundation, a post she assumed in January 2007. Gloria has been involved with GAF since she was nominated and became a finalist for the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Education in 1992. She was Director of the Golden Apple Teacher Education program (GATE) from February 2003 through August 2005.Gloria took the post at GAF following 17 years as a teacher, dean, mentor, dorm parent and head, and coach at Lake Forest Academy. Gloria joined the Academy faculty in 1989 as a Science teacher, dormitory parent, and coach. She taught freshman Physics, Current Issues In Science, all levels of Biology, including Advanced Placement. She was appointed the LFA Diversity Coordinator in 1995 and LFA’s first Dean of Multicultural Affairs in 2001. In 2005, Gloria added the role of Dean of Students. Prior to coming to the Academy, Gloria taught for 23 years in Chicago Public Schools. As an elementary and high school biology teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, Gloria was honored with the University of Chicago Outstanding High School Teacher Award; Kohl Foundation for Excellence in Teaching Award, Illinois Institute of Technology Award , and District 4 Teacher of the Year Award.
She presently serves on the Board of Trustees of Lake Forest Academy and the Global Youth Leadership Institute. She is a nationally-recognized leader in equity and justice initiatives.
Gloria received her B.A. in chemistry from the University of Minnesota at Moorhead and M.A. in Natural Science from Chicago State University.
John Braman
A resolute friend of excellence and equity in education, John lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he is president of Dream Year Consulting Group and serves on the city’s Board of Education Strategic Planning Committee. He works with schools and colleges internationally on organizational development, strategic planning, executive coaching, marketing, and the design of mission-extending, revenue-enhancing programs. John founded Youth Leadership Institute, later renamed GYLI, to promote a new science of leadership for the Age of the Unthinkable after 9/11. At the time, he was president of the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS), overseeing the standards of excellence for 240 schools across the Midwest. Dedicated to innovative approaches toward a more sane world, John also: directed the experiential education division at Albuquerque Academy; co-founded the Center for Peaceable Schools at Lesley University; served as a commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Education overseeing the Schooner Ernestina Project; was executive vice president at Thompson Island Outward Bound Center and executive director of the Upaya Zen Center; conducted research on humpback whales in Africa for the University of Rhode Island; and, along the way, led Brown University’s Himalayan expedition to Mt. Devistan. He holds a BA from Brown University, where upon graduation he was awarded the Arnold Fellowship to spend a year working with the government in the Republic of Cape Verde, Africa. He also has an MA in Educational Administration from Teachers College/Columbia University and received the Klingenstein Fellowship for excellence in teaching. He has two children: Justin (29), a GYLI field instructor who teaches at the Santa Fe Mountain Center; and, Carrie (28), the head learner at The Community School in Camden, Maine.
Justin Brandon
I grew up in New York City. I attended Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, N.Y. I earned a B.A. in Political Science and African American Studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. I received my M.A. in Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota in May 2006. I was a Diversity Director and history teacher for five years. Now I am an Upper School Form Dean (Dean of the class of 2010) and history teacher at the Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square (Philadelphia), PA. I am also a coordinator for the GYLI Year 1 institute.Last edited by Nick Swider on Apr 3, 2010 - 11:20 AM