New Head appointed for the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa, Kenya

William J. (Bill) O’Hearn III has been appointed as the new Head of the Aga Academy in Mombasa, Kenya. The Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa Academy is one of a network of schools being established across Africa, South and Central Asia, under the auspices of the Aga Khan Development Network. His Highness the Aga Khan’s vision is to create a global learning community where exceptional young people from any background can develop the capacity to become future leaders of civil society.

Bill O’Hearn is currently Head of Beijing City International School (BCIS), a coeducational day school in the People’s Republic of China. BCIS has 760 students and teaches the IB Primary Years Programme, the IB Middle Years Programme and the IB Diploma Programme. Bill is also Superintendent of YueCheng Education, which offers Continuing Professional Development classes and workshops for teachers across Beijing. Bill has a BA in History from Hamilton College (US) and a Masters in the Teaching of Reading from Fitchburg State College (US). He has been an administrator in high schools (School One, St Andrew's School, Ross School) and elementary schools (Eliot Montessori School) since 1981. Bill is married to Andrea O'Hearn, administrator university counsellor. They have three older sons living in the US and a daughter who graduated from BCIS in 2015.

Society’s proactive search for the new Head focused on the existing leaders of full-continuum IB World Schools around the globe. Due to the heavily networked nature of this community, we also made extensive use of advice and recommendations. The resultant field of candidates came from all over the world, including Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Karim Alidina, Head of Human Resources for the Academies Network commented:

"Simon Lucas, Conor Wilson and the team have been pivotal in the success of this search. Their tenacity, and excellent understanding of what would be the successful qualities that we require for a Head of the Aga Khan Academy resulted in a very strong pool of candidates that we could review, and we are very pleased and excited about the appointment of Bill into this position. The partnership we have with Society is built upon trust and having aligned values as mission-centric organisations."