Randy Bertin
Head of School
Tel: (805) 646 4343 Ext 112

Year Appointed at BHS: 2006
Year Appointed as Head of School: 2011



B.S. University of New Hampshire - Kinesiology
M.S. University of Massachusetts; Amherst - Exercise Science

Randy began his independent school career as an intern at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH. "After working at the school and learning about the students I was hooked — I felt like this was the kind of place where I could have an impact on the future of our planet."

Randy enjoyed a dynamic and diverse 7 year career at Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Stoneleigh-Burnham School is located in Western Massachusetts and is a boarding and day school for girls. Randy started at the school as a teacher in the Science Department, Assistant Director of Athletics, and Dorm Parent. Over the course of his time at Stoneleigh-Burnham, Randy continued to teach while at the same time assuming increasing responsibilities as a member of the school's Admissions and Development Offices, Summer Programs Counselor, Media Relations Coordinator, 10th Grade Dean, and Coach. Additionally, Randy assumed responsibility for the school's Athletic Program and internationally recognized Riding Program for the last few years that he was at the school. His responsibilities within the riding program included staffing, finances, and managing the day to day operations. Under his direction the program began to show a financial turn around. As Development Officer, Randy's focus was current parent contributions to the Annual Fund. He was part of the team that helped to increase the school's Annual Fund by more than $100,000 annually. As a member of the school's admissions office, Randy travelled and made connections with many referral sources for the school and performed student and family interviews while on the road.

Like Besant Hill, Stoneleigh-Burnham was a progressive community where teachers were addressed by their first names and students were encouraged to be themselves. Also, like Besant Hill, Stoneleigh-Burnham had a variety of learners and a thriving performing and visual arts program with nationally recognized music, dance, and theater programs.

Randy was also a part of a team to propose, and subsequently found, a middle school at Stonelgh-Burnham. This proposal added 7th and 8th grade to the school, and became a wonderful opportunity for Randy to expand his knowledge and involvement within all realms of the school, from curriculum, to admissions, to facility planning and management. "It was an exciting time to to be at the school; my job was growing more and more each year. However, it was also at that time that I decided to think about new challenges at another school."

At that time, Randy's brother, a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, was living and working in Los Angeles. "Since we are close, I wanted to try to be close to where he was and began looking for opportunities in the LA area. I was looking for a school similar to Stoneleigh, where the arts played an integral part in the school rather than a peripheral one, like at many traditional boarding schools. I was definitely seeking something alternative."

Randy interviewed for the position of Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at the National Association of Independent School Schools conference, and moved to Ojai the following July.

Upon arrival at Happy Valley, he realized that much work needed to be done. In order to balance the budget, the school needed a substantial number of students in a short period of time. Randy immediately went to work and completely restructured every aspect of the school's Admissions Office. Toward that end, Randy turned to his large network of contacts, both domestically and internationally. He has travelled to eighteen countries during his professional career bringing students from a diverse background. He exceeded enrollment goals that year and every year that he led the office. During this time the school went from an average of 60-65 boarding students per year to the current capacity of 84. "I am proud that we have students representing 17 countries this year — many more than when I first arrived when we only had students from South Korea and Taiwan." Randy also re-established the school's ESL summer programs and worked alongside the Director of the summer camp to establish and plan the program.

Next, Randy focused on the school's Development Office and completely reorganized and redesigned every aspect of that department. The school's Annual Fund was stabilized, becoming monies that were indeed, "renewable, repeatable, and replaceable" as Randy has been known to say when speaking about the Annual Fund's viability and how it contributes positively to each students experience at Besant Hill.

Due to these increases of revenue streams, Besant Hill saw its operating budget grow by over 100%.

Randy has also presented at national conferences, including the SSAT/B conference (National Conference for Independent School Admissions Professionals) where he presented on "The Head of School's Role in Admissions," and most recently presented at The Association of Boarding School National Conference and Global Symposium on "Donor Centered Fundraising in an International Market." Randy was also the featured Head of School from the United States in one of the most widely known Educational Consultant Offices in Moscow (click here).

Randy is excited to be heading back into the classroom next year, where he will join the Science Department to teach Anatomy and Physiology. In addition to teaching, Randy would like to again lead an experiential education trip, as he did for the 2009 trip to Cameroon where a small group of students and faculty re-built several components of a 64 bed orphanage.

He is a member of the accreditation team for the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), and has served on many accrediting visits since 2009. He is also involved with non-profit youth organizations in the Ojai Valley.

Additionally, Randy is a member of the Ojai Playwrights Conference (OPC) Board of Directors. The mission of the Ojai Playwrights Conference is to develop unproduced plays of artistic excellence from diverse writers both emerging and established by promoting creative freedom and bold experimentation through a development process that values writers who focus on the compelling social, political and cultural issues of our time, and to nurture a new generation of playwrights through youth workshops. The conference takes place annually at Besant Hill School.

Randy's wife Karen holds a Bachelors Degree in Communication Disorders with a minor in education from the University of New Hampshire and a Masters Degree in Communication Disorders / Speech and Language Pathology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Karen has also worked in Independent Schools for many years. At Stoneleigh-Burnham School she served as the Summer Programs Director for four years, where she supervised over 100 students in 5 summer camps over a seven-week period. Karen has also been a Residential Faculty member at both Stoneleigh-Burnham and Besant Hill School, and works in the Besant Hill Summer ESL program.

Randy, Karen, and their four children reside on campus and are an integral part of the residential community.

• ...Randy is from a very musically talented family as his brother and father are master musicians and guitaritsts...while Randy will admit that he did not inherit their musical talent, he did take piano lessons for five years, can play a bit of guitar, and played drums in his high school garage band, "The Bamboo Harvesters."
• ...Randy's wife Karen was a gymnast when she was growing up and competed on the Division I level in College. She took many years of dance (ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, modern and lyrical) and danced throughout her high school years. (If you see her, ask her to do a standing back tuck!)
• ...Throughout college, Randy was the Assistant Innkeeper at the Isaac Merrill House in Kearsarge, NH where he directed the day-to-day operations during summers, breaks, and weekends of a 22 room, 238 year old, bed and breakfast located in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. His responsibilities included personnel management, public relations, guest relations, room reservations, ordering provisions and amenities and general maintenance.