From Crisis Management to Embedded Leadership, with Distinguished Business Officer Sandi Pierce

The 2025 recipient of the Ken White Distinguished Business Officer Award, Sandi Pierce, shares how her role at Cate School, a boarding school in Carpinteria, California, has shifted from chief business officer to assistant head of school, full stop. In her more than 30 years at Cate, Pierce has handled the full range of operations responsibilities, from response to severe wildfires and other natural disasters, "other duties" as an advisor and dorm parent. Building direct connections with students has critically informed her leadership in school business and operations.