Ellis School names Tambi Tyler as next leader, 1st Black woman to hold role

The Ellis School, an independent, all-girls school in Pittsburgh’s East End, will soon be helmed by a new leader.

The school’s board of trustees last week named Tambi Tyler, a former English teacher in Iowa whose career trek included school administrator roles in Georgia and Colorado, as its 16th head of school.

Tyler, who is the first Black woman to hold the post, succeeds Macon Finley, whose seven-year tenure as head of school will end with her June 2024 retirement. Tyler’s first day is July 1, 2024.

Tyler’s mother took education seriously, the new head of school told the Tribune-Review. The family’s matriarch moved a young Tyler from Mississippi to Iowa in the 1970s to take advantage of better-rated public education there.

She continues to cite both states as homes where she grew up.

Tyler still remembers the 15-hour drives between Mississippi and Iowa, where her mother would hand her a book and tell her to read aloud to pass the time.

“‘Do not drag a single vowel or consonant,’ she’d say,” laughed Tyler, now 50, and planning to leave Des Moines for Pittsburgh sometime in the spring. “Those choices, my mother saying education is key: I’ve been doing those ever since.”

Tyler started her education career by teaching high school English in Des Moines Public Schools, Ellis School officials said. She stayed in Iowa for the better part of 20 years, serving as a teacher, a middle school dean of students, and a middle school vice principal in an International Baccalaureate program.

Tyler then went to Atlanta International School, an independent day school serving 1,200 students, where she worked for five years as an upper school principal and deputy head of secondary education, Ellis School officials said.

“You could walk down those halls and see kids interacting in French and German and Spanish, as well as with our American students,” Tyler said.

Tyler served as head of school for The Colorado Springs School, where she led efforts to weather the covid-19 pandemic on the private, college preparatory school’s sprawling 32-acre campus.

“What I love about The Ellis School and the people here is that it has a very strong mission and a very strong staff,” Tyler said.

She stressed Pittsburgh’s educational and cultural environment “was definitely a part of my selection process.” More than 400 girls currently are enrolled at The Ellis School, which was founded in 1916, officials said.

Tomar Pierson-Brown, a 1997 Ellis School graduate who today chairs the school’s board of trustees, said the Shadyside-based pre-K through 12th grade school received about 30 applications for the head of school position.

Consultants at search firm RG175 narrowed that number down to 16 dossiers, of which board members trimmed it to 9 candidates, Pierson-Brown said. After several interviews, the board chose three finalists.

“We had three really strong candidates — it was a really a great place to be in,” said Pierson-Brown, 43, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who lives in Homestead. “But Tambi’s candidacy really stood out.”

“We were just impressed by her drive and her creative problem-solving,” she said.

The Ellis School offered Tyler the job on Sept. 26 . Her selection was announced to Ellis School students and staff on Oct. 10, officials said. Pierson-Brown declined to provide details of Tyler’s salary or benefits.

Tyler earned her bachelors degree in secondary English education from Grand View University in Des Moines, and her masters in effective teacher learning leadership from Drake University in Des Moines, school officials said. She has also completed doctoral work at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

“I am delighted to be the next head of school of The Ellis School,” said Tyler, in prepared remarks. “Ellis has a long history of empowering girls and young women to be bold, authentic changemakers and all-girls education is the elixir. It sets a solid foundation for grit, achievement, and confidence.”