Leadership

Senior Administration

• Clayton W. Lewis

  Head of School

  

  (202) 243-1818
  lewis@wis.edu

  Mr. Lewis was appointed head of school in 2007. He has administered international schools for the last 27 years, most recently as director of the International School of Luxembourg, and formerly as high school principal at the American School in London and the American School of The Hague. He holds a B.A. in history from Rhodes College and an M.S. in educational administration from the George Peabody School of Education –Vanderbilt University, and has completed advanced graduate studies focusing upon international school leadership at Boston University. Mr. Lewis is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the European Council of International Schools.

• Tom Alexander

  Director of Business Operations

  

  (202) 243-1811
  alexander@wis.edu

  A native of India, Mr. Alexander earned a B.A. in business administration from California State University and an Executive M.B.A. from Pepperdine University, also in California. He worked for 15 years for a global contract food services organization in various roles in cities around the U.S., finally as chief financial officer for one of their joint venture operations. Before coming to WIS in 2002, he was an independent financial consultant to Independent Educational Services, in Alexandria, Virginia.

• Sandra Bourne

  Middle School Head

  

  (202) 243-1892
  bourne@wis.edu

  Mrs. Bourne joined the WIS faculty in 1979 after six years of teaching, writing curriculum, and supervising faculty in Pennsylvania, upstate New York, and New Hampshire. In 1981, she left to teach in Arizona, rejoining WIS in 1982. She earned a B.Sc., with honors in elementary education (K-8) at Pennsylvania State University and continued her advanced studies in education at Temple University, receiving a Reading Specialist Certificate . She continually pursues her studies in educational administration.

• Michelle Broadie

  Director of Auxiliary Programs, Administrative Supervisor, Primary School

  (202) 243-1727
  broadie@wis.edu

  With several years of administrative experience at the International School of Paris, Ms. Broadie arrived at WIS in 1993. A native of France and Switzerland, she received the DUEL d'Espagnol and Licence d'Anglais at the Universite d'Amiens. She later studied computer programming in France and taught in the U.K., Spain, and France.

• Dorrie Fuchs

  Director of Admissions and Financial Aid

  

  (202) 243-1815
  fuchs@wis.edu

  Ms. Fuchs obtained a B.A. in French at Middlebury College and an M.Ed. at the University of Virginia. At WIS since 1987, she previously served for eight years as program associate/officer of A Better Chance, a national academic referral agency for minority high school students. Ms. Fuchs currently serves on admissions steering committee of the Association of Independent Schools in Greater Washington.

• Steve Hoare

  Director of Technology

  

  (202) 243-1863
  hoare@wis.edu

  Mr. Hoare holds a B.S. degree, with honors, in physics from Imperial College London, and attained a PGCE in physics at Nottingham University. He taught physics and mathematics for three years each in England and the Netherlands, followed by a year in Singapore before his arrival at WIS in 1985. He was appointed director of technology in 2002.

• Melody Meade

  Primary School Head

  

  (202) 243-1703
  meade@wis.edu

  Ms. Meade earned a B.A. with honors in elementary education from the University of Rhode Island and an M.A. in educational administration from Teachers College, Columbia University. She taught in primary schools in California, New York, Brazil and France for eight years, then was a middle school principal of a private school in Paris and head of a Montessori school in Brussels. She came to WIS in 2001.

• Kate Meenan-Waugh

  Director of Global Initiatives and Service Learning

  

  (202) 243-1884
  meenan-waugh@wis.edu

  After receiving a B.S. in European history from Georgetown University, Ms. Meenan-Waugh worked as a research assistant for The Asia Society/China Council. She taught in Brooklyn and for three years locally at The Parkmont School where she served as internship coordinator. Ms. Meenan-Waugh has completed course work toward an M.A. in educational anthropology at New York University. She arrived at WIS in 1992.
  

• David Merkel

  Deputy Head of School

  

  (202) 243-1838
  merkel@wis.edu

  Mr. Merkel earned a B.S. in mathematics from Purdue University and an M.A. in educational administration from The George Washington University. He has been involved in education for 30 years, as a teacher and an administrator. Before his arrival at WIS in 1983, Mr. Merkel taught mathematics in Ghana, Japan, and Florida and was vice principal at the Academy of the Holy Names in Silver Spring, MD. At WIS, he was head of the upper school for fifteen years, becoming deputy head of the entire school in 1998.

• Tannaz Rahman

  Director of Advancement

  

  (202) 243-1856
  rahman@wis.edu

  Ms. Rahman earned a B.S. in newspaper journalism at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University and an M.S. in magazine journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She worked for ten years at the Pennsylvania State University, culminating in her position as director of international partnerships. For the next eight years she was the public information and development specialist for the State College Area School District, in Pennsylvania. She started work at WIS in 2005. In addition to English, Mrs. Rahman is fluent in German, Persian and French.

• Gareth Vaughan

  Upper School Head

  

  (202) 243-1803
  vaughan@wis.edu

  Mr. Vaughan obtained a B.A., with honors, in biology from the University of York, a PGCE in biology/integrated science from the University of London, an M.A. in environmental and resource policy at The George Washington University, and a Ed.M in educational leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University. Mr. Vaughan was alumni organizer at United World Colleges in the United Kingdom for two years. He then taught for a year at Haberdashers' Aske's School at Hatcham. Arriving at WIS in 1982, he taught science in the Upper School, became vice principal (1986), dean of students (1991), assistant head (1997), and Upper School head (1998).