Christopher R. Tompkins

Christopher R. Tompkins is a 30-year veteran of independent school education, serving as a teacher, college counselor, director of admissions and financial aid, assistant head of school, and head of school. Tompkins is currently leading the Education Sector of Middle Eastern Giga Project as its founding Executive Director for Early Childhood through Grade 12 Education.

As an author, Tompkins has written numerous articles on independent schools, including a feature article in the Spring 2016 edition of the NAIS Independent School Magazine and several articles for the Head’s Letter and Trustee’s Letter, trade publications that support best practices in independent schools. Tompkins published The Croton Dams and Aqueduct in 2000, authored the forward to Behind the Walls, and wrote an article on diversity in Second Home: Life in a Boarding School.

As an independent school leader, Tompkins served on the NAIS SSS Task Force from 2005-2011, as a trustee of the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools from 2010 to 2015, and as President of the ADVIS Board from 2013 to 2015. Tompkins has served on the boards of the Chambersburg Montessori Academy and is currently on the board of The Montgomery School in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, and the Cloud Forest School Foundation (supporting the Cloud Forest School of Costa Rica) where he has served for two decades, including a term as President. Tompkins also served his alma mater, Colby College, for more than a decade as a member of the Alumni Council, of which he was chair of the Admissions and Financial Aid Committee.

In 2013 Tompkins received the Everett E. Gourley Award from the Enrollment Management Association. He is a regular speaker on the independent school circuit and was a founding trustee of the Association of Independent School Admissions Professionals. Tompkins, who is a regular speaker on New York’s Hudson Valley region, holds degrees from Colby College and the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, and has earned certificates from Harvard, Cornell, and Richmond. He was awarded a Head of School Fellowship from the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University in 2013.