Leadership at Dwight Global

Celebrating more than 55 years in education, Chancellor of Dwight School Stephen Spahn is the longest-serving school leader in the United States. He has been at Dwight since 1967, igniting the spark of genius in every child, mentoring generations of students, and educating them to become innovative global leaders. In recognition of his outstanding commitment to youth and leadership in the field of education, Chancellor Spahn received the prestigious Louis Hine Award for Distinguished Service in 2011. He also received a 2013 Blackboard Award with a Special Citation for Community and Citizenship, in recognition of the innovative East Harlem community partnership he  forged with the 1199 Housing Corporation to create the Dwight School Athletic Center.

Chancellor Spahn was one of the founders of the Anglo-American International School, which joined forces with Dwight School in 1993. A pioneer in international education, he was a founding member of the Guild of International Baccalaureate Schools of the Northeast, served on the International Baccalaureate Board of Governors, and established Dwight’s first campus abroad in London in 1972. Today, as Chancellor of The Dwight Schools, he spearheads the education of nearly 3,500 students through a global network of IB World Schools in New York, London, Seoul, Shanghai, Dubai, Hanoi (opening 2024), and through our online campus, Dwight Global Online School.

Under Chancellor Spahn’s leadership, Dwight became the first school in the Americas to offer all four IB programs for students from preschool-grade 12; and was selected from nearly 3,700 IB World Schools as one of six original Open World Schools to pilot IB courses online. Today, through Dwight Global Online School — ranked #2 best online high school by Newsweek — Dwight offers the same personalized educational journey to students around the world. Under Chancellor Spahn's leadership, Dwight launched Spark Tank, an incubator for K-12 students designed to nurture entrepreneurial, innovation, and leadership skills beyond the classroom. Spark Tank quickly became a signature Dwight program.

As an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, Chancellor Spahn was an All-American basketball player, member of Phi Beta Kappa, a Senior Fellow, and an intern at the United Nations under a 1926 Public Service Fellowship. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, he attended Wadham College, Oxford University; and later completed coursework for a PhD at Columbia University, where he was an International Fellow and a Woodrow Wilson Scholar.

Our Dwight community is extremely fortunate to have unprecedented continuity of leadership under Chancellor Spahn, whose commitment to igniting the spark of genius in every child and cutting-edge education sets Dwight apart from all other schools.
 

As Vice Chancellor, Blake Spahn ’89 has oversight of all Dwight School operations, extending across the Main Campus, Riverside Campus, 94th Street Campus, and the Dwight School Athletic Center. His strategic oversight ensures the efficient and effective management of all facilities, systems, and staff in support of Dwight's innovative world-class programs.

Dr. Spahn received his BA and MBA degrees from Columbia University, where he was Captain of their undefeated Men’s Tennis Ivy League championship team. He then went on to obtain Masters and Doctorate degrees in Comparative International Education from Oxford. Author of America and the International Baccalaureate, Dr. Spahn has taught English and philosophy in classrooms in the U.S., U.K., and Japan. In addition to founding Dwight’s Early Childhood Division, he has had oversight of our London campus for more than 20 years; and serves today as Vice Chancellor for all Dwight Schools in New York, London, Seoul, Shanghai, Dubai, Hanoi (opening 2024), and Dwight Global Online School.

In 2000, Dr. Spahn co-founded BOOST (Building Opportunities on Student Talent), a non-profit designed to advance prospects for university students in Southern Africa, enabling them to contribute to their own countries’ development. Dr. Spahn was also able to enhance his global vision as a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations, to which he was elected in 2005. He is very excited to have his wife, Maryll (Co-Director of Lower and Middle School Admissions at Dwight School New York), and children, Kyra ’23 and Ronin ’26, join him at Dwight.

Dr. Spahn was named a 2017 Distinguished Leader in Education at the 15th annual Education Update Outstanding Educators of the Year Awards Program.
 

Louisa Childs, Head of School for Dwight Global, and General Counsel for The Dwight Schools, brings to Dwight a passion for online education and its potential for connecting students and teachers from around the world.   

In her over ten years at Dwight, Ms. Childs has worked to ensure that Dwight embodies its mission of igniting the spark of genius in every child and its three pillars of Personalized Learning, Community, and Global Vision, leading to Dwight Global being named as the second best online school in the United States by Newsweek. Ms. Childs has served as a board member at four charter schools in the South Bronx neighborhood of New York City, and has worked as a Computer Science teacher and program leader. As General Counsel for The Dwight Schools, Ms. Childs has been instrumental in establishing innovative Dwight School programs worldwide.  

Before returning to her passion for education, Ms. Childs worked as an attorney at the international law firm King & Spalding, leading teams under current Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher A. Wray. Ms. Childs also served as a Judicial Law Clerk for The Honorable Stanley F. Birch of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Ms. Childs is a cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College, where she studied history and computer science, and New York University School of Law. At NYU, she was the Executive Editor of the Journal of International Law and Politics. She was awarded the Edward Weinfeld Graduation Prize for legal scholarship, and also was named a Robert McKay Scholar.