Membership with Meaning
Join a community where you can let your shoulders down.
One membership. A full year of support.
You'll be surrounded by a trusted community of women school leaders who get the complexities of leading schools. Expert coaching. Curated programming. In-person experiences that fill your cup when you need it most.
Together, we foster a support system where you feel seen and empowered to reach your full potential.
Meet Our 2026-2027 Collective
Member Collective
Cohorts Built for What You Are Carrying
Running a school has never been harder. The challenges keep shifting and so do the skills needed to lead through them.
Join a trusted community of women serving as heads of school and senior leaders across independent schools. Women who know exceptional leadership requires both professional and personal support. Each cohort is a space to think out loud. To navigate what's hard. To invest in each other's success.
When you’re busy running a school, the space to breathe is often the first thing to quietly disappear. Excelle helps you reclaim the space.
Our Cohorts
EXECUTIVE
A COHORT OF HEADS OF SCHOOL
• 10 Leadership Roundtables
• 10 Coaching Circle Sessions
• 2 Legal Strategy Sessions with Pete Commons, LLP
• Advisory hours with CS&A Search Consultants
• Invitations to regional Meetups
• Access to Excelle Membership Portal
• Access to BoostHERs and TeachHERs
• Invitation to Annual Launch event in Providence, RI. Additional fee applies. Required for first-year members.
• Exclusive Excelle Gifts & Merchandise
ASPIRING
A COHORT OF SENIOR ADMINISTRATORS
• 10 Leadership Roundtables
• 10 Coaching Circle Sessions
• Advisory hours with CS&A Search Consultants
• Invitations to regional Meetups
• Access to Excelle Membership Portal
• Access to BoostHERs and TeachHERs
• Invitation to Annual Launch event in Providence, RI. Additional fee applies. Required for first-year members.
• Exclusive Excelle Gifts & Merchandise
The Leadership Hub for Women Shaping Education
Membership Programming
Educational leadership never slows down. Real-time decisions, high stakes, and relentless forward motion.
Excelle is designed specifically for this environment, giving you a trusted space in the middle of it all. Coaching, programming, and access to a network of women leaders who get the complexities of leading schools, so every challenge becomes a place to grow.
The full Excelle impact is experienced through an annual membership.
Membership benefits include:
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LAUNCH
A two-and-a-half day immersive kickoff designed to welcome new members, establish a foundation of growth for the year ahead, and build meaningful connections. Attendance required for first-year members; encouraged for returning members. Additional fees apply.
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COACHING CIRCLES
Small, trusted groups that blend the power of coaching with the richness of peer learning, creating a dynamic environment where your real-world challenges become the content for knowledge, insight, and growth.
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ROUNDTABLES
Timely topic discussions guided by Excelle and invited experts, designed to deepen leadership impact and sharing of practical insights.
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MEETUPS
Intentionally designed in-person pauses to be in community with women who understand your day without additional context.
Excelle hosts four gatherings a year, held alongside major conferences, followed by member-only dinners.
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TeachHERs
Expert-led sessions designed to build leadership skills into practical application.
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BoostHERs
Member-led sessions where women share interests and hobbies that extend beyond their professional roles.
Membership Rates
Membership dues sustain our year-round programming and provide members access to curated resources, personalized support, and an engaged community of women leaders in independent schools.
We believe every woman leader should have access to this community, and we understand that some school budgets may preclude participation. To help make membership accessible, we offer a limited amount of assistance to reduce the financial barrier for school leaders. Members may apply for assistance on an annual basis. Reach out to our team to learn more.
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Year 1 | $5,000* (total commitment $6,800 with required Launch)
Years 2+ | $4,000*
Launch Fees | $1,800*
Attending our Annual Launch event is required for first-year members. It is optional for returning members.
*2026-27 rate -
Year 1 | $4,000* (total commitment $5,800 with required Launch)
Years 2+ | $3,500*
Launch Fees | $1,800*
*Attending our Annual Launch event is required for first-year members. It is optional for returning members.
*2026-27 rate
The Excelle Experience.
In Their Own Words.
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Erin Gordon, Head of Lower School at Friends Seminary
“Excelle has given me the opportunity to reflect on my own leadership strengths and see how they can strengthen my entire team. After Launch, I was inspired to bring the strengths-based approach back to my colleagues so we can better understand our individual and collective strengths. As educators, we spend so much time supporting teaching and learning. It was energizing to invest time in leadership learning that addresses other aspects of our work.”
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Tiffany D. Trotter, Head of School at Kew Forest
“Excelle has a remarkable way of giving you exactly what you need, when you need it. During the walk-and-talks on our first day at Launch,, we were asked what we would want to become an expert in overnight. My answer was somatic integration. I was curious about the connection between the body, movement, emotion, history, thought, memory, and even epigenetics. The very next day, Lynn led us through a powerful somatic coaching session that brought that curiosity to life. I had no reason to expect that the next day would bring wish fulfillment but that moment was a reminder that Excelle often has a way of giving me what I need, exactly when I need it.”
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Michele Murphy, Director of Academic Affairs at The Spence School
“As a colleague and I started our first walk and talk during the second day of Launch, I loved seeing, ahead of us, equally spaced pairs of other women taking the same walk towards and over the bridge near to where we were spending our time. I felt like I was joining a powerful parade of amazing women. Throughout Launch, I kept coming back to the image of bridges. Excelle felt like a bridge between where I am now and where I’m going, from a room full of strangers to a network of new friends, crossing different seasons of leadership and life. I left feeling deeply connected to an extraordinary community of women and grateful for the relationships that will continue long after the program.”
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Individuals interested in joining Excelle should connect with our team anytime by emailing connect@excelle.me. We start building our cohorts for the coming year during the Winter and early Spring. Our yearlong membership program kicks off in June and continues through May of the following year.
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Members connect at in-person events and virtual gatherings throughout the year. Our in-person Launch event takes place over three days in Providence, RI in June and is mandatory for new members. During the school year, members connect virtually over scheduled sessions totaling about two hours per month. Additionally, we host in-person meetups in various locations throughout the year that are optional to attend.
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Excelle welcomes both sitting heads of school and leadership team level administrators. Our two membership cohorts, Executive and Aspiring, meet you where you are.
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Absolutely! Excelle is for ambitious women who are curious about reaching the next level of leadership, want to be in community with colleagues who understand the nuances of leading a school, or looking for programming to support them in their current roles. Many women in the Aspiring Cohort have chosen ambitious leadership paths that do not lead to headship, yet have found it a benefit to be a part of high-level conversations centered on being a woman in a leadership role.
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Yes, first year members are required to attend our in-person Launch. We have learned from experience that the relationship-building that is fostered during Launch is foundational to establishing a strong peer network within Excelle. Returning members are encouraged to attend but it's optional.
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While many members are sponsored by their schools, others self-sponsor their memberships. We desire to make membership accessible to those looking to join our Collective, so contact a member of our team to learn more and see if assistance may be available if the financial commitment is a barrier to your membership.
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Visit our Coaching page to learn more.
Questions?
We’ve Got You.
