Tolleson finds new challenge, and renewed opportunities, as Hawken School administrator
AFTER LEAVING IMG in 2006, Stephanie Tolleson found a second career in education.
Since 2013, she’s been an administrator at Hawken School in suburban Cleveland, a 109-yearold private, co-ed school and college prep, which has grown from one campus to four in recent years. Hawken’s academics have been consistently ranked among the best preps in Ohio, if not the entire Midwest.
While her daughter, Taylor, was attending Hawken, Tolleson was on the board of directors and chaired the school’s development committee, seeking to raise upward of $70 million for a centennial development project. The school hired a full-time development head, but that person dropped out before starting. Tolleson was asked to fill in temporarily — 11 years ago.
“I stayed because it was engaging and stimulating mentally, and I believed in the mission,” she said.
As COO, Tolleson heads business affairs. She calls helping the school through the pandemic one of her most arduous professional assignments.
“No one believes this when I tell them, but it’s kind of like IMG. The head of school is a visionary, like [Mark] McCormack, and they’ve built a family inside.
“Clearly, educational content is very different, but in personal ways, it’s still the same; very relationship dependent, even with different kind of sales and marketing functions.”
Tolleson is finally leaving Hawken, retiring in about a month.
“Clearly, educational content is very different, but in personal ways, its still the same; very relationship dependent, even with different kind of sales and marketing functions.” STEPHANIE TOLLESON