Our Team
Carla Silver
carla@leadershipanddesign.org
Carla (she/her) s the Executive Director and Co-Founder. She is an experienced independent school educator, school administrator, and experience designer. She holds a B.A. in English from Emory University and a M.A. in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from The University of San Diego. Carla partners with schools on strategic design and enhancing the work of leadership teams and boards, and she designs experiential learning experiences for leaders in schools at all points in their careers. She also leads workshops for faculty, administrative teams and boards on Design Thinking, Futurist Thinking, Collaboration and Group Life, and Leadership Development. She has presented regularly at the NAIS annual conference as well as other regional and local seminars, workshops and conferences. She currently serves on the board of the Urban School of San Francisco. As a lifelong learner, Carla has recently pursued her interests in design thinking, creativity, improvisation and education innovation. She lives in Los Gatos, California with her husband, three children, and two King Charles Cavaliers.
Crystal Land
crystal@leadershipanddesign.org
Crystal (she/her) is a Senior Associate. Crystal has spent her career leading and teaching in independent schools. Following 30 years at the Head-Royce School in Oakland, California, Crystal recently retired as the Head of School where she previously served in a variety of roles from Assistant Head of School and Admissions Director to English teacher. Crystal studies and applies the best practices in authentic and effective leadership and thrives on mentoring others. She has designed and facilitated workshops for school leaders in the Bay Area and nationwide on topics including strategic planning, developing capacity and collaboration in leadership teams, school governance and conflict resolution. Additionally, she seeks to find ways to creatively integrate literature, poetry, connection to nature and mindfulness into her work with leaders and schools. Crystal currently serves on the board of directors of the CATDC (California Teacher Development Collaborative) and is involved in supporting first generation college students through the Oakland Promise and the Heads Up program. She holds a M.A. in English from Middlebury College, a M.A. in Education from Stanford University and a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley in English and Political Science. Crystal and her husband, Will Miller, live in the Bay Area and are parents of two thriving adult children and one adored Goldendoodle.
Greg Bamford
greg@leadershipanddesign.org
Greg (he/him) is a Co-Founder and Senior Partner. Prior to this, Greg was Associate Head of School for Strategy and Innovation at Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, Washington, and Head of School at the innovative Watershed School in Boulder, Colorado. During his tenure at Watershed, enrollment grew by 82% and the school achieved accreditation for the first time. He is currently on the Board of Trustees for his alma mater, The Overlake School in Redmond, Washington, and the Advisory Board for The Hatch School, a new, independent girls' high school opening in Seattle, Washington next fall. With his experience in school leadership, Greg brings a strategic lens to leadership development, innovation, and change management for Leadership+Design clients. He is particularly passionate about building leadership capacity and the cultural muscle to enact needed change. Greg has been a featured speaker at dozens of education conferences, has consulted with a wide range of schools nationally, and has written for publications like Independent School, Net Assets, and The Yield. Greg lives in Tacoma, Washington with his wife and two children.
Ryan Burke
ryan@leadershipanddesign.org
Ryan (he/him) is a Co-Founder and Senior Partner. After 20 years working as a Teacher, Learning Specialist, Dean of Students, and Principal/Division Head in public and independent school, Ryan has joined L+D full-time as a senior partner. With a Master's Degree in Applied Behavioral Science and experience in family therapy and systems thinking, Ryan's approach to working with school leaders and teams is unique and brings both a clinical lens as well as practical school leadership experience. Ryan is currently working with schools and organizational leaders as a coach as well as on strategic planning, schedule re-design, communication and feedback and other messy and ambiguous school challenges. Ryan has presented at NAIS, the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), as well as keynoted on topics like Critical Conversations, Communication and Conflict Resolution. Ryan lives in Carmel, Indiana with his wife and three children.
Shu Shu Costa
shushu@leadershipanddesign.org
Shu Shu (she/her) is an Associate. She has been a teacher, a mentor, a division director, an assistant head of school, an enrollment director, a strategist, and a board member. Shu Shu has also been a city newspaper beat reporter, the managing editor at a glossy magazine, and her two books have been published by Simon & Schuster and Putnam. What joins all those experiences together is her love of people, organizations, and their remarkable stories, both the ones we tell to ourselves and the ones we use to create journeys and relationships with others. An active facilitator, she has led SPARC – Spirited Practice and Renewed Courage – a program for educators which explores the conversations between our inner selves and our professional lives – and Leadership + Design’s Wonder Women program. As a school leader, she has participated in the creation of five strategic plans and has deep experience with Friends schools in particular. Shu Shu was born in Penang, Malaysia, is a graduate of Cornell University, and is the proud mom of three children. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, a dog, and a six-toed cat named Hemingway.
Tara Curry-Jahn
tara@leadershipanddesign.org
Tara Curry-Jahn (she/her) is an Associate. She is an experienced human-centered design facilitator and coach, strategic partner, and experience designer. She holds a Master's degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Colorado and a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont. She has been formally trained in design thinking at the Stanford's d.school (School Retool), The Design Gym, and the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME- creator of Action Collab). Tara partners with schools, districts, and organizations to think creatively and systematically to become more user-centered and strategic in teacher and leadership development, resource allocation (time, money, people), and the student experience. She also serves on the board of the Jeffco Schools Foundation. Tara lives in Arvada, Colorado with her wife and son.