NAIS Diversity Leadership Institute (DLI)

  • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
  • Leadership
  • Professional, Staff, and Team Development

About the Event

The NAIS Diversity Leadership Institute (DLI) is a five-day residential institute for school leaders navigating one of the most complex leadership challenges today: how to sustain and advance inclusion, belonging, and community well-being in compliance with the current legal landscape. 

DLI is designed for leaders who are being asked to move this work forward, often without clear authority, sufficient resources, or institutional alignment, and need practical strategies to lead with clarity, courage, and precision. 

DLI is open to all members of the independent school community. 

The Diversity Leadership Institute is part of the Leading Your Growth track of the NAIS Leadership Academy. 

Register Now
Date / Time
July 26-31, 2026
Location

Emory Conference Center Hotel (Atlanta, GA)

Program Overview

Despite the challenges posed by a rapidly evolving legal and social landscape, independent schools are uniquely positioned to demonstrate leadership and adaptability. By proactively engaging with complex legal developments and responding thoughtfully to diverse expectations from boards, families, and communities, these schools can strengthen student well-being, foster deeper connections, and build lasting trust. Rather than viewing these pressures as obstacles, independent schools can leverage them as opportunities to enhance their resilience, reinforce their mission, and shape environments where every student thrives. 

DLI equips leaders to strategically think and operate related to these challenges. Participants will engage in a rigorous, practice-based experience focused on:

  • Navigating the legal and governance realities 
  • Securing and reallocating resources without direct budget authority
  • Proactively engaging as schools navigate shifting expectations and pressures
  • Designing school environments that foster connection, safety, and purpose
  • Aligning belonging work with mission, enrollment, and long-term sustainability

For nearly 40 years, DLI has served as a national community of practice. This year’s institute builds on that legacy with a sharper focus: equipping leaders not just to understand this work, but to sustain it strategically in today’s conditions.

By the end of the institute, participants will leave with:

  • A clear understanding of the current legal landscape and its implications for school policy and practice
  • A multi-source funding strategy and draft proposal aligned to institutional priorities
  • Practical tools for navigating conflict and competing stakeholder demands
  • Leadership frameworks for advancing belonging and community well-being
  • Concrete plans to implement immediately within their schools

DLI combines large-group sessions with nationally recognized experts, small-group learning communities, and applied workshops. Daily programming includes Morning Gatherings, focused learning strands, plenary sessions, and Home Groups that allow participants to process, apply, and refine their leadership approach in real time.

Featured Sessions

Embracing Diversity in a Climate of Uncertainty 

Speaker: Joy DeGruy, author, academic, and researcher

  • Examine the historical and social dynamics shaping today’s challenges and apply evidence-based, healing-centered practices to strengthen institutional culture and resilience.

Strategic Funding for Inclusion and Belonging Work

Speakers: Mark Reed, finance expert, philanthropist, and educational leader, and Brian Wise, Director of Diversity Planning

  • Learn how heads of school and CFOs make funding decisions, identify hidden budget opportunities, and build a multi-source funding strategy that aligns belonging work with institutional priorities.

Leading in a Complex Legal Landscape 

Speaker: Justin Perillo, NAIS General Counsel

  • Work directly with the NAIS general counsel through case-based scenarios to understand legal considerations and strengthen your decision-making as a school leader.

Leading for Belonging in an Age of Loneliness

Speaker: Yerko Sepúlveda, DLI Lead Faculty

  • Apply research from neuroscience and public health to design environments that foster connection, safety, and purpose across school communities.

Learning Strands

  • Recognize how preferred, culturally learned approaches to conflict influence communication and resolving conflict.

  • Prepare school leaders to cultivate belonging and inclusion across lines of difference.

  • Discover and build adaptive leadership skills for complex change. 

  • Understand how engaging in a cooperative conversation allows exchanging information that cultivates relationships with one another.

Audience

The NAIS Diversity Leadership Institute is designed for:  

  • School leadership teams made up of stakeholders instrumental in forming and institutionalizing DEI best practices. 
  • Heads of school and other independent school leaders who have direct and/or support responsibility for student success through coherent, fair, and forward-thinking practices and for the well-being of students, faculty, and staff. 
  • Educators aiming to improve their effectiveness with students and adults whose backgrounds, beliefs, cultures, and perspectives differ from their own. 
  • Student support staff, deans of faculty, global and international education practitioners, and all who have responsibility for the climate, culture, health, and well-being of their school communities.

2026 Faculty

  • Mahtab Mahmoodzadeh

    Assistant Head of School
    Giddens School (WA)

  • Susan Perry

    Associate Head of School for Wellness and Belonging
    Forsyth Country Day School (NC)

  • Jay Rapp

    Director of Enrollment
    Green Acres School (MD)

  • Yerko Sepúlveda

    Head of Community Engagement and Wellness
    Porter-Gaud School (SC)

  • Jessie Skipwith

    School Counselor
    Aspen Academy (CO)

  • Marlo Thomas

    Assistant Head for Equity and Inclusion
    Georgetown Day School (DC)

  • Roderick White

    Director, Office of Diversity and Community Life
    University School of Nashville (TN)

Registration Information

Registration prices include room and board and all meals.  

*Contact us for more information about the benefits of NAIS membership, including discounted event pricing.

Registration Type
Early-Bird Pricing (Through 4/1/26)
Standard Pricing (On or After 4/2/26)
Member Price*
$3,875
$4,450
Nonmember Price
$5,050
$5,625
  • Registration Type
    Member Price*
  • Early-Bird Pricing (Through 4/1/26)
    $3,875
  • Standard Pricing (On or After 4/2/26)
    $4,450
  • Registration Type
    Nonmember Price
  • Early-Bird Pricing (Through 4/1/26)
    $5,050
  • Standard Pricing (On or After 4/2/26)
    $5,625

Schedule

Click here to view a detailed schedule. Please plan to arrive at the Emory Conference Center by 10:00 AM ET on Sunday, July 26. Plan to depart Friday, July 31, before 12:00 PM ET. If your travel plans differ from this schedule, please contact dli@nais.org. 

Hotel Accommodations

Your registration fee includes the cost of your hotel room during the event. NAIS will reserve your hotel room at the Emory Conference Center Hotel, located at 1615 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA, 30329, for arrival on July 26 and departure on July 31. Please plan your travel accordingly. The check-in time is 4:00 PM ET and check-out time is 12:00 PM ET. 

This event is a residential program, and you are expected to stay at the conference hotel and participate in the entire program. If you require accommodation before or after these dates, please contact dli@nais.org. Additional fees may apply. 

Contact Information and Cancellation Policy

Please contact institutes@nais.org or 202-973-9700 with any questions.  

Cancellations must be received in writing at institutes@nais.org. Cancellations received up to 30 days (May 27, 2026) before the program's start date will be fully refunded, less a $75 administrative fee. Cancellations received fewer than 30 days prior to the program will not be refunded.