Dear Blair family,

I write to you today about the end of one chapter in Blair’s history and an exciting new beginning. After more than seven years at Blair, Chris Fortunato has decided to return with his family to New England, where he will lead Thayer Academy, a day school outside of Boston. We are most grateful to Chris for his excellent leadership and many contributions over the course of his tenure and wish him and his family well. As we now look to Blair’s future, I am thrilled to announce that our Board of Trustees unanimously voted to appoint Associate Head of School and Dean of Admission Peter G. Curran as Blair’s 17th Head of School, effective January 1, 2021. In the coming months, Chris and Peter will continue to work together closely as they transition to their respective new roles, and I have no doubt that the process will be smooth and seamless.

Of course, many of you have already gotten to know Peter well over the last 10 years as he traveled the globe and connected with families and alumni to share with them the transformative nature of a Blair education. In addition to being bright, enthusiastic and engaging, Peter has literally become the face of Blair in many parts of the world and has done much to elevate our name and reputation. Under his leadership, Blair has enjoyed a record number of applications year after year, and admission to the School has become increasingly selective. Even during the current coronavirus pandemic, Blair is fully enrolled and thriving, a reflection of Peter’s ability to connect with families and a testament to his leadership of our excellent admission team.

I hope you will join us in wishing Chris, Erin, Matt and Katie the very best as they embark on their next chapter in Boston. We are grateful to Chris for his tireless work in managing the challenges of day-to-day school operations, conceiving of and building our state-of-the-art Chiang-Elghanayan Center for Innovation and Collaboration, renovating and expanding the Bogle Science Center and launching our Strategic Plan that has put Blair on a positive trajectory for the next five years. Our School is stronger and more financially secure because of his efforts and stewardship.

We are fortunate that Peter and Chris have worked side-by-side for the better part of a decade, and Peter understands and deeply loves Blair’s culture and its diverse and close-knit community. During his tenure, Peter has been involved in every facet of school life and has demonstrated his commitment to building community and connecting with prospective families, students, parents and alumni of every background and experience. We are confident that this leadership transition will best position Blair for continued success moving forward, especially as we execute the people- and program-focused initiatives of our 2018-2025 Strategic Plan, All In.

Peter has had an expansive career, spending 20-plus years working at schools across the globe. Upon graduating from Milton Academy in 1997, he matriculated at Bowdoin College, where he met his wife, Sarah. After college, Peter taught history at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland, and Sarah earned her master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins University. They then moved to Arizona, where Peter taught and worked on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, while Sarah conducted research on obesity prevention and promoted healthy-eating strategies.

Shortly after getting married in 2004, the Currans moved to Cambridge, where Peter earned his MEd at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and Sarah worked at Harvard Medical School. When he graduated in 2005, they accepted positions at The American School in Switzerland (Peter as dean for 10th and 11th grades, as well as a teacher and coach; Sarah as a teacher and coach of soccer, a sport she had played at Bowdoin). The Currans returned home to the United States each summer during the two years they lived abroad, and Peter worked at Harvard as assistant dean of the secondary-school program.

Peter furthered his experience in boarding school administration in 2007 when he was appointed dean of students at Fountain Valley School, where he also taught and coached for four years. During that time, the Currans welcomed their twins (Toby and Grace, now 11) before moving to Blair in 2011. The School’s vibrant student-centered culture resonated deeply with Peter and Sarah, and they were equally impressed by Blair’s flourishing reputation in the boarding-school world.

In his time at Blair, Peter succeeded David Low as a new dean in the student life office and taught English. He later became dean of admission, eventually rising to assistant head of school for enrollment and communication. In recent years, Peter, now associate head of school, took a leading role in the architecture and execution of our 2018-2025 Strategic Plan. Importantly, Peter has also been active professionally outside of Blair, regularly presenting at national conferences focused on education, co-founding The Dean’s Roundtable, a nonprofit that promotes best practices among independent schools, and serving as a trustee at Oldfields School in Glencoe, Maryland, and North Country School in Lake Placid, New York.

Sarah, a registered dietitian, works as a program associate for Rutgers Cooperative Extension’s Family and Community Health Sciences Department. Toby and Grace, now in sixth grade, love growing up on campus with 460 big brothers and sisters, countless friends among faculty children, dozens of faculty-and-staff aunts and uncles, and their yellow lab, Bowdoin. When they move into Sharpe House, the Currans look forward to hosting the Blair community in their home, where they will deepen existing relationships and forge new ones as they welcome new members to the Blair family.

Let me conclude by wishing the Fortuantos the very best and stating our utmost confidence in our new Head of School. In welcoming Peter to this role, we look forward to his fresh leadership perspective while continuing to embrace our beloved Blair traditions as we approach our 175th anniversary in 2023.

Warm regards,

Doug Kimmelman P’12 ’13 ’15 ’22
Chair, Blair Academy Board of Trustees

Peter G. Curran will become Blair Academy’s 17th Head of School in January 2021. He brings to this role more than 20 years’ experience in independent school education, gained during an expansive career that has taken him to institutions across the globe. He and his wife, Sarah, found a home at Blair nearly a decade ago, attracted by the School’s vibrant, student-centered culture and flourishing reputation in the boarding-school world. Peter has since been involved in every facet of school life, and, with a deep understanding of Blair’s diverse and close-knit community, he has shared his love for Blair with students, families and alumni around the world.

Appointed to Blair’s faculty as a dean in the student life office and English teacher in 2011, Peter later became dean of admission. He soon rose to assistant head of school for enrollment and communication and, most recently, associate head of school, as he took a leading role in the architecture and execution of our 2018-2025 Strategic Plan, All In.

Throughout his Blair tenure, Peter has traveled extensively and engaged enthusiastically with families, students and alumni of every background and experience. As he has shared with them the transformative nature of a Blair education, he has also strengthened the global Blair community and elevated the School’s name and reputation. Under his leadership of the admission team, Blair has enjoyed a record number of applications year after year, and admission to the School has become increasingly selective. 

Peter is a 1997 graduate of Milton Academy and a 2001 graduate of Bowdoin College, where he majored in art history and minored in French. After college, he began his career in independent-school education as a history teacher at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland, and he then taught and worked for one year on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. 

Upon earning his MEd at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education in 2005, Peter accepted a position at The American School in Switzerland as dean for 10th and 11th grades, as well as a teacher and soccer and lacrosse coach. He returned home to the United States each summer during his two years abroad and spent one summer working at Harvard University as assistant dean of the secondary-school program.

Peter furthered his experience in boarding school administration as dean of students at Fountain Valley School in Colorado. There, he also taught and coached for four years before returning to his East Coast roots when he joined the faculty at Blair in 2011.

In addition to the many roles he has held at Blair, Peter has been active professionally outside of the School, too. He regularly presents at national conferences focused on education and co-founded The Dean’s Roundtable, a nonprofit that promotes best practices among independent schools. Peter also serves as a trustee at Oldfields School in Glencoe, Maryland, and is a former trustee of North Country School in Lake Placid, New York.

Peter and Sarah met at Bowdoin College and married in 2004. Sarah holds a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University and is a registered dietitian. She currently works as a program associate for Rutgers Cooperative Extension’s Family and Community Health Sciences Department. The Currans are parents to 11-year-old twins, Toby and Grace, and they have a beloved yellow lab, Bowdoin.