Eric Osorio
Director
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Eric Osorio currently serves as the Associate Head of School at the Calhoun School in New York City.
An independent school educator for the past 26 years, Eric Osorio began as an intern in the admission office at the Noble and Greenough School just outside of Boston. In his twelve-year tenure, Eric grew beyond the admissions office, taking on the role of expanding the diversity program at the school. Initially a minor role focused on student programming, Eric's work led to broader diversity efforts, including establishing strategic diversity goals, and in 2006, he was appointed the school's first Dean of Diversity Initiatives, a senior-level administrative position. After four years as Assistant Head of Upper School at Packer Collegiate Institute, Eric returned to the New England region in 2012 to oversee student life at Worcester Academy as the Dean of Students for the 6-12 school community. In 2015, Eric joined the Swift School in Atlanta, Georgia as Associate Head of School. After three wonderful years in Atlanta, Eric returned home to his beloved New York City.
Eric has presented his work and research at both regional and national conferences including NAIS Annual Conference and NAIS People of Color Conference (PoCC). In 2007, he was honored to serve as one of the co-chairs of NAIS PoCC Local Planning Committee. Eric currently serves as one of two Co-Directors for the NYSAIS Emerging Leaders Institute (ELI). He is also a trustee of the Bronx Charter School for the Arts and is the Chair of the Program Committee.
Eric earned a B.A. from Tufts University, where he was a double major in Sociology and International Relations. He also holds an M.A. in Private School Leadership from Teachers College and was honored to receive a Joseph Klingenstein Fellowship. His research project was focused on diversity efforts in corporate America and the implications and lessons for independent schools. Eric is also a proud alumnus of Prep for Prep, an experience that continues to inform the work he does in independent schools. Eric resides in New York with his wife Roberta, ten-year-old twins Jasmine and Jordan, and his three-year-old son Eric, Jr.
Noni Thomas López
Founder and Core Faculty
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Entering her 27th year of working in independent schools, Noni Thomas López is currently the Head of School of the Gordon School in East Providence, RI.
Before joining Gordon, Noni worked for twenty years as a teacher and administrator in independent schools in New York City. From 2014 to 2018, she was the Assistant Head of School for Teaching and Learning at Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Previous to this appointment, Noni served as the Head of Middle School at the Nightingale-Bamford School and Middle School Director of the Calhoun School.
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Noni serves on multiple national and regional boards, including the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE), the Headmistresses Association of the East, Community Preparatory School, Trinity Repertory Theater and Inspiring Minds, a not-for-profit organization that serves Providence elementary school students and families. In 2021, Noni joined Susan Yao, ILI alum Betty Noel and ILI core faculty member Will Gilyard to found the Institute for New Teachers of Color at Gordon School.
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Noni has presented at multiple national and regional conferences and consulted at universities as well as public and private schools on curriculum, diversity, equity and inclusion, board governance, and organizational leadership. She also served as a script consultant with Sesame Workshop on issues of adolescent development and racial and social justice for the Emmy-award winning television show Ghost Writer, and with Sinking Ship Productions for the YouTube series Locked Down.
Noni holds a B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned her M.A. in Private School Leadership at Teachers College where she was awarded a Joseph Klingenstein Fellowship. In 2016, she completed a doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania. Noni is a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and resides in East Providence, RI with her husband Rodney. She has two stepsons Rodney, Jr. (18) and Roman (17), and her son Novian Graves (30) holds a J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham, NC.
Aléwa Cooper
Core Faculty
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Erica Corbin
Core Faculty
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Erica Corbin is a proven community leader with a talent for building inclusive and welcoming independent school environments. A public school kid in a private school world, Erica has worked in K-8, K-12, single-sex, co-ed, and higher ed institutions. She was introduced to independent schools in 2006 through her first position in Development at the Cathedral School of St. John the Divine, and she rejoined the Cathedral community in 2021 to become the 19th Head of School.
Erica was previously Director of Community Life and Diversity at the Chapin School, a K-12 independent girls school on New York City’s Upper East Side, after wrapping a seven-year term of multiple roles at Collegiate School, a K-12 independent boys school on the Upper West Side. Her responsibilities included teaching, coordinating community service, event planning and fundraising to increase socioeconomic diversity, advising multiple student groups and academic teams, and organizing equity-related programming for students, parents, alumni, faculty, and staff members.
She served a 4-year tenure as co-chair of PoCIS (People of Color in Independent Schools), an NYC-based affinity group with a 30+ year history that serves to connect local independent school educators and staff of color. Over five years she served as co-chair and chair of the Diversity Committee of the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS), before stepping down from the position in 2017. Erica also served as co-founder of the CARLE Institute for White Educators in Independent Schools, a program structured to give white faculty members the necessary historical framework, interpersonal skills, and curriculum development strategies they need to teach a diverse student body. She is now completing her final year as founding co-director of NYSAIS’ Justice, Equity, and Diversity Institute (J.E.D.I.), a year-long program to better equip early career directors of diversity and school professionals interested in pursuing a similar role in the future.
Erica typically attends and presents at multiple local and national diversity conferences and trainings, and she has worked with notable organizations including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, Prep for Prep, Harlem Academy, the Quiet Schools Institute, and Jack and Jill. She received her B.A. from the University of Evansville and her M.S. from Boston University. It’s important to know that Erica is a huge fan of Netflix original series programming and only partners on projects with people who are funny. She is strongly committed to furthering the leadership of people of color in independent school education.
William Gilyard
Core Faculty
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Will Gilyard is in his 19th year of working in independent schools. In 2020, he returned to his alma mater Choate Rosemary Hall to take on the roles of Dean of Students, Form Dean, and Alumni Engagement Associate. Will joined Choate after nine years at the Kingswood Oxford School (KO), a 6-12 independent day school located in West Hartford, CT, where he served as Dean of Students, an upper school math teacher, assistant football coach, and faculty advisor for the United Students club and Boys of Color group. Will serves as a core faculty member and helped create the curriculum for the Institute for New Teachers of Color in Independent Schools, created in 2020. Will also served as a core faculty member of the Kingswood Oxford Leadership Institute for Educators of Color (KOLIEC) from 2011-2018 and helped create the curriculum for the mentoring/advising circles for institute participants.
Before joining KO, Will was the Head of the Upper School at the Cathedral School of St. John the Divine in New York City. He serves on the board of advisors for the IDEAL School, also located in New York City. He is passionate about the role of educators in independent schools, specifically in the lives of students of color. Will has attended numerous workshops, conferences, and institutes related to leadership in independent schools and anti-racist education. Will had the honor of being a member of a think tank for the CARLE institute.
Will has his B.A. in Psychology from Williams College and his M.A. Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of St. Joseph. Will is thrilled to be a part of the ILI team and looks forward to working with energized and focused individuals who are interested in being change agents in the world. Will resides in Wallingford, CT with his wife Afton and their two sons, William (10) and Maxwell (8).
Adrienne Barr, Executive Director
New York Interschool Association/Faculty Diversity Search
Adrienne Barr joined Interschool after spending several years in leadership roles with the Parents’ Association at Trinity School in Manhattan. A former television news producer, Ms. Barr became active in educational and parenting issues while sending her own two children to Trinity. She also worked closely with students and their families while running ArtScenes, a theater and art summer camp she founded in 2008. As President of the Trinity PA, Adrienne was deeply involved with organizing and developing Parent Affinity Groups, and helping to foster more involvement and leadership roles for families of various racial, religious, ethnic and other identity backgrounds. She also helped create more programming and several film and lecture series to support these groups, and has been an active fund raiser and volunteer coordinator for the school’s many events.
Adrienne has a BA in Communications from Rutgers College, and a Creative Writing Certificate from the NYU School of Continuing Education, and is an award winning screenwriter and producer.
Brandie Clarke, Assistant Director
New York Interschool Association/Faculty Diversity Search
Brandie has been the Assistant Director of Interschool for over 30 years. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the State University of New York at New Paltz. She is responsible for the administrative operations for Interschool and the Faculty Diversity Search (FDS) and the recruitment and placement of associate teachers and head teachers in FDS member schools.
Prior to coming to the independent school community she worked for the NYC Department of Education’s Office of External Programs for six years where she worked with a team of twelve, developing several projects for the board such as Principal for a Day, Take Your Daughter to Work Day, and The NYC Mentoring Program.
The ILI Faculty
