Mary Bond

Mary Bond is the Associate Head of Upper School at St. Martin’s Episcopal School in Metairie, Louisiana. For the past decade, she has created and maintained discipline programs within the framework of autonomy, belonging, and competence. She is particularly interested in exploring and pushing the boundaries for approved student involvement and autonomy in school communities. Mary has presented at workshops across the United States, speaking on topics such as fostering student autonomy, strengthening relationships of trust, and providing meaningful roles for students to fulfill within a school’s culture.

Michelle Bostian, Founding Member

Michelle’s career has included deep experience in design and delivery of custom leadership development programs, strategic team alignment and promoting motivation. Michelle believes in the innate capacity within all individuals to leverage strengths, discover purpose and achieve success. She has a unique awareness and sensitivity to the dynamics of equity and inclusion on relationships. Michelle is the principal coach and consultant with the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools Emerging Leaders Institute. She also serves as an Organizational Effectiveness Consultant at Cone Health and manages their internal professional coaching program for leaders. Michelle is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Board Certified Coach, Professional Certified Coach, National School Reform Coach and Change Management Professional. Finally, she is a founding member of Heart of Character, and serves as past president of the Board for Mental Health Greensboro.

Anne Cass, Founding Member

Retired from full-time school administration in 2017, Anne Cass brings decades of experience in teaching and administrative leadership to her work. Believing that building strong relationships is at the heart of effective education, and that the existing wisdom in a school can effect change if the tools are made available, she works to create positive communities and develop ethical young people and adults.  A skilled facilitator, Anne helps groups clarify a problem, identify their own strengths and expertise, and create a process to solve the problem. Her broad experience as a teacher and administrator in both independent and public schools as a high school English teacher and Principal, an Upper School Head, and an elementary school administrator informs her focus on building relationships to promote student growth, create strong leadership teams, and develop ethical school cultures.

Lee Dieck, Founding Member

A retired physician, Eileen (Lee) Dieck returned to education in 2004, joining the faculty at The Masters School, where she served as teacher and class dean. In 2013, she collaborated with a colleague to develop the school’s unique Ethical Leadership program which incorporates elements of social-emotional learning and self-determination theory in its approach. In 2017, Lee became the full time Ethical Leadership Coordinator; in this role she has represented Masters in presentations at national and regional conferences for NAIS, TABS, CSEE, and NYSAIS. 

In addition to the activities mentioned, Lee has engaged deeply in the study of issues surrounding academic integrity, working to promote proactive methods to help students make better choices. She currently serves on the boards of the Character Collaborative, Professional Children’s School (chair emeritus), and the Independent School Chair Association, and is a founding member and board chair for Heart of Character. In her community, Lee has served on the Medical Board and Board of Trustees of Northern Westchester Hospital, and the Alumni Board of Governors of New York Medical College.

Bridget Gwinnett, Founding Member

Bridget Gwinnett began working with children as a Child and Adolescent Therapist in a clinical mental health setting, and then in private practice. As the Upper School Counselor at Greensboro Day School (NC), she seeks to support students in the hard work of being a teenager, provide parents with tools for handling the everyday experience of raising adolescents, and supply teachers with the resources to deliver challenging quality instruction while recognizing the developmental and emotional needs of their students. In addition to counseling, Bridget works with students in Health and Wellness, First Year Foundations, and teaches AP Psychology. To plant the seeds of servant leadership and help students discover their purpose, she requires that they attend to how they are shaping their identities, consider their responsibility to others, and imagine the ways they will impact their communities. Bridget holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology; is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor; and is a licensed trainer in Restorative Practice.

Tim Leet, Founding Member

Tim Leet is the Ethics and Character Coordinator at Columbus Academy (OH), where he also teaches upper school courses in moral philosophy and psychology.  He has developed a curriculum for adolescents that explores moral identity and ethical decision making and is the author of Ethics and Identity, a textbook to support that curriculum. His diverse academic and professional background includes graduate degrees in both theology and nuclear engineering, as well as considerable experience coaching student leaders, aligning discipline systems, and developing a school-wide program in ethics and character.  A regular presenter at local and national conferences, Tim has spoken on topics such as academic integrity, school culture, ethics education, and the keys to internalizing motivation. Tim formerly served as the character development consultant to the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education and was the Executive Director of Heart of Character from its founding until 2021.

Pascal Losambe, PhD

Dr. Pascal Losambe earned his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Purdue University with a focus on cultural competence.  He has a B.S. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Middlebury College (VT) and a M.S. in Biology from Boston College where he received the Donald J. White award for teaching excellence, a distinguished honor given annually to graduate instructors. He serves on regional diversity boards, has led strategic vision initiatives for various institutions and has conducted multiple workshops on cultural competence at national and international conferences. Dr. Losambe’s achievements include the Mosaic Award in 2018, and being invited onto the Purdue University Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Advisory Board and the Independent School Association of the Central States Equity and Justice Committee Board.

David Streight, Founding Member, Resident Scholar

David Streight taught and worked as a school psychologist in public and independent schools in the Portland (OR) area before being named executive director of the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education in 2004. He left CSEE in 2015 to begin serving as senior fellow for Grab the Torch. David is the author, editor or contributing editor for a number of short books for educators or parents, all reflecting his primary interest in fostering goodness in young people and the society they will soon be enriching. Among the most important of these are Breaking into the Heart of Character: Self-Determined Moral Action and Academic Motivation (2013), Parenting for Character: Five Experts, Five Practices (2008), and Structure and Guts of Character Education (2015).