Sandy Spring Friends School
We need more entrepreneurs. My experience with entrepreneurs is that they have the ability to gain a little altitude and see the world more clearly from a vantage point that is not overly influenced by what everyone else thinks. To be an entrepreneur means that you are entirely comfortable approaching the future, assuming it will not be the same as the past. Entrepreneurs do not look at opportunities like they are snap shots where everything is frozen in time. Entrepreneurs watch film where you can look at historical patterns, discern hints and project trajectories in order to make educated guesses about what is going to happen next.
Entrepreneurism is not new. The village of Sandy Spring was founded by tobacco farmers who had moved away from the soil-depleted lands of the earlier settled Tidewater. The Quakers who moved here all seem to have had the entrepreneurial gene (although neither of those words was in use 350 years ago). These Quakers were entirely comfortable with innovation, risk taking and collaboration. They knew they were going to stay and be successful; consider the big houses they built. It was the unique experimentation with different types of fertilizer, including the use of guano from South America, that allowed Sandy Spring farms to grow and prosper. It is the descendents of these same Quakers who again and again displayed their entrepreneurial spirit by founding a series of Friends schools (which, prior to public schools, served all students in the community) including, fifty years ago, Sandy Spring Friends School.
I first recognized the power of entrepreneurism in the 1990's when I lived in Hong Kong and part of my job was to work with Chinese officials to figure out how to fund electricity projects. At that time, it was far from obvious that China was destined to be an economic super power. In fact, China's economy was considerably smaller than that of Italy. There was no private property. There were no land titles, no court houses to file them in and no lawyers to opine on whether you had done it right. China was very short of power and it was this lack of electricity that everyone predicted would hold back China's economic growth. Back in the day, when an official wanted to build a new power plant, someone called the state owned factories and eventually rail cars full of stuff would be delivered and engineers would walk around and decide whether they could make a power plant out of it (they always did). Over these last twenty years, China's economy has been transformed by technology, investment, market reforms and the unleashing of entrepreneurs. Today, China is the world's second largest economy.
It seems to me that independent schools are perfectly positioned to help awaken the entrepreneurial spirit in the next generation of business, political and civic leaders. This can be achieved through the combination of a global curriculum which emphasizes independent thinking and collaboration, community service and leadership training along with the rocket fuel of values including compassion, tolerance and respect. At Sandy Spring Friends School, a global curriculum will mean many exciting additions including teaching Mandarin, getting students in all grades excited about science and technology, offering engineering and computer science and, for a group of juniors and seniors, a rigorous seminar-style program to teach Peace and Social Justice.
Since going to China in the 1990s, I have had a few entrepreneurial moments. As a new Head of School, it seems obvious to me that we would do well to catch the entrepreneurial bug in order to make the independent school value proposition as compelling as possible. And by doing so, we can take full advantage of today's wonderful opportunity to consider how to educate, stretch, confound and delight our students so that each will "Let Their Life Speak" by contributing to family, community, nation and the world.
Tom Gibian was appointed Head of Sandy Spring Friends School in 2010 after ten years as chief executive officer, managing director, and founding partner of Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), the largest fund manager working across the African continent with offices in Johannesburg, Tunis, Casablanca, Abidjan, Lagos and Douala. Tom was Executive Director in the Asia-Pacific Region of Goldman Sachs (Asia) Limited from 1992-1995. Tom joined Goldman Sachs in 1987 as vice president. Prior to 1987 he was with Solomon Brothers. Throughout his career, Tom has focused on staying true to his Quaker values and using them in the business world. Having served on both the Sandy Spring Friends School and the Sidwell School Boards, he has dedicated his volunteer efforts to the governance of Quaker schools. Tom grew up in Sandy Spring, MD, and is a member of Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting. He graduated from Sherwood High School, received a bachelor’s degree with honors from the College of Wooster in Ohio, and received an MBA in finance from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Tom’s college senior Independent Study at College of Wooster was entitled “Dissent and Experimentation in American Schools, 1900-1960.” He taught at Wooster High School and received a secondary school teaching certificate. After college he was a community organizer and, later, administrator in a local anti-poverty agency. Tom is married to Tina Grady, a graduate of Sandy Spring Friends School. They have a son and a daughter, both of whom have attended Quaker schools.
