Find bios for this year’s cohort of NAIS Global Ambassadors below.
For more information about the program, visit NAIS Global Ambassadors Advisory Working Group. To view all previous cohorts of NAIS Global Ambassadors, visit NAIS Global Ambassadors Advisory Working Group Cohorts.
Ariane Baer-Harper, head of school, Austin International School (TX) 
A school leader with over 25 years of experience in international education, Ariane Baer-Harper has been a founding head of school in two countries, overseen school acquisitions and transitions in Africa and Europe, and designed global programming and curriculum for pre-K–12 schools. As a lead educator with the International Baccalaureate Organization, she has led school evaluation visits and worked with schools on how to develop their programs around the areas of scope and sequence, assessment, diversity, and authentic leadership. A public speaker with a passion for creating inclusive school cultures, Baer-Harper speaks three languages (English, French, and Spanish) and has worked in schools on almost every continent. She has served as a superintendent, head of school, associate head of school, and director of global engagement; she has taught every grade from pre-K through the university level.
Nichole Foster-Hinds, head of upper school, The Nightingale-Bamford School (NY)
Nichole Foster-Hinds is an educational leader, strategist, and community builder whose work centers on a foundational belief: How young people learn to encounter difference with curiosity, humility, and genuine openness shapes who they become and the communities and world they help create. With more than two decades of experience in independent schools, she currently serves as head of upper school at The Nightingale-Bamford School, where she oversees global education and STEM innovation and integration.
Before joining Nightingale, Foster-Hinds served in leadership roles at Holton-Arms School (MD), where she helped build a programmatic and institutional approach that intentionally integrated diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, global education, and social-emotional learning. Rather than treating these as parallel areas of school life, her work explored their deep interdependence: How students understand themselves shapes how they understand others; how they engage across difference shapes their capacity for relationship and belonging; and those relationships create the conditions for deeper learning, agency, and growth. This work also shaped her understanding of intercultural competence as a way of being in community that is grounded in curiosity, humility, perspective-taking, empathy, and the capacity to remain engaged across difference.
At Nightingale, Foster-Hinds has continued to develop and scale this integrated approach across academic leadership, student development, and community life. She has led the expansion of diploma-level Pathways in Global Studies and Civic Engagement, developed intercultural dialogue and student leadership programs in partnership with the Institute for Global Learning (IGL), and reimagined interdisciplinary learning experiences that connect students’ intellectual development with their responsibilities as members of local and global communities. Across this work, her aim is consistent: to move students and educators beyond exposure to understanding, meaningful connection, and purposeful action.
Beyond her school, Foster-Hinds contributes to national conversations about global education, dialogue, culture, and belonging through organizations including NAIS, International Coalition of Girls’ Schools, New York State Association of Independent Schools, and IGL, as well as through collaborations with organizations such as Essential Partners. As a presenter, facilitator, and thought partner, she works with educators to explore how schools can create cultures in which people encounter difference with curiosity rather than certainty, build relationships across lines of identity and experience, and develop the capacities necessary for thoughtful participation in a pluralistic world.
Ultimately, Foster-Hinds believes schools have a responsibility not only to prepare students to succeed in the world as it is but also to cultivate the courage, empathy, discernment, and imagination to contribute to the world as it might become—with purpose, care, and a deep sense of responsibility.
Laura Hille, international admission director, Menaul School (NM)
Since 2018, Laura Hille has managed international recruitment, enrollment, and study abroad programs at Menaul School. She is passionate about international education, creating access, and developing global citizens. Previously, during her 7.5 years at the Institute of International Education (IIE), she managed outreach, recruitment, and selection activities for a variety of global scholarship programs and institutions, including Schwarzman Scholars, Boren Awards, and New York University Abu Dhabi. Prior to IIE, Hille worked at the American Society of Hematology on international programs and at the U.S. Department of State on the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).
An avid traveler whose work has taken her all over the globe, she has visited over 110 countries. She lives with her husband and their three-year-old daughter in Albuquerque, making good use of the many hiking trails and visiting New Mexico’s wealth of beautiful landscapes and historical sites. Hille holds a bachelor’s in international studies from University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master’s in international affairs from George Washington University.
Hilary McDonough, director of global and civic engagement, The Nightingale-Bamford School (NY)
As director of global and civic engagement at The Nightingale-Bamford School, Hilary McDonough leads the Upper School Global Scholars pathway, global partnerships, faculty-led travel learning, and intercultural dialogue training. A fluent French speaker with professional experience in France and advanced Spanish proficiency, she is a contributing author to Intercultural Dialogue: A Field Guide for Educators and Schools and was the Institute for Global Learning's 2024–2025 Global Educator in Residence. She currently serves as an education ambassador at the Council on Foreign Relations and holds degrees from Middlebury College and Wofford College.
Kendra Sisserson, director of global studies, The Pennington School (NJ)
Kendra Sisserson has served as director of global studies at The Pennington School, a 6–12 day-boarding school just outside Princeton, New Jersey, since 2013. She administers school-wide global education programming, including the Global Studies Certificate Program. Sisserson’s career in global education has encompassed a variety of initiatives, including global education program design, directing and leading student travel programs, serving as an International Baccalaureate coordinator, and teaching and conducting research at the secondary and university levels, both domestically and internationally. She studied American trainee teachers during student teaching placements across New Zealand and was part of an International Literacy Association-led teacher-training program for new educators in Pakistan. Work and hobbies have taken Sisserson to 42 countries so far, and she seeks every opportunity to advance the idea that global citizenship is good citizenship, offering a set of skills and perspectives as important to embrace at home as they are abroad. Sisserson holds degrees in English and rhetoric from the University of South Florida and a doctorate in education with a focus on the sociology of literacy from the University of Chicago. She lives on campus at The Pennington School with her husband and daughter.
Tom Woelper, head of school, Cheshire Academy (CT)
J. Thomas “Tom” Woelper is head of school at Cheshire Academy, a coeducational day and boarding school serving students in grades 9–12 and postgraduate. Founded in 1794, Cheshire Academy admitted its first international students in 1846 and has maintained a global perspective throughout its 230-year history.
Since beginning his tenure in January 2025, Woelper has led a comprehensive strategic planning process in partnership with EXPLO Elevate, utilizing the 2–5–10 Framework to guide the school’s future. This work began with deep community engagement—gathering input from 254 members including faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni, and trustees—to develop a refreshed mission statement.
Under his leadership, Cheshire Academy has launched several initiatives to strengthen community engagement and transparency. These include ParentPulse, a specialized survey platform providing ongoing feedback to inform decisions; parent open forums via Zoom addressing topics from strategic planning to reenrollment; and an updated faculty compensation and workload matrix framework. Under Woelper’s leadership, the academy has launched the new Global Citizenship Diploma Distinction, reimagined Roxbury Center for Learning & Leadership, and run the elite Apogee Fencing at Cheshire Academy program.
A recognized thought leader in education, Woelper has published articles in Fast Company and EdTech Digest, contributed expertise to EXPLO Elevate’s publications, and appeared on educational podcasts discussing innovative approaches to learning. He has served on the board of trustees for the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools and on accreditation committees.
Woelper brings over three decades of independent school experience. He was the founding head of school at New England Innovation Academy, where he implemented innovative educational practices based on human-centered design, including competency-based assessment and an integrated experiential curriculum. Previously, he served as head of school at Far Hills Country Day School (NJ), assistant head of school and dean of academic life at The Hotchkiss School (CT), and class dean at The Taft School (CT), where he began his career as a history teacher, coach, and dorm parent. His international experience includes heading a school in Thailand.
Questions? Contact Ioana Wheeler, NAIS Senior Director of Global Initiatives, at wheeler@nais.org.