Thomas MacLaren School is pleased to announce that the MacLaren Board of Directors has voted unanimously to name Bridget Rector as Thomas MacLaren School’s next Executive Director. Last year, Mary Faith Hall, one of the three founders of MacLaren and the school’s leader since its founding, announced that she would retire at the end of the 2024-25 school year. By finding and naming her successor now, the Board is affording Mrs. Hall a year and a half in which to mentor and train Mrs. Rector to take on this role. In that time Mrs. Hall will remain the Executive Director; at present, Mrs. Rector will remain an Assistant Head of Upper School. Her duties will shift during the transition phase, and then she will assume official duties as Executive Director in the 2025-26 school year.
Bridget Rector grew up in Denver and attended the University of Notre Dame, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in the Program of Liberal Studies, a Great Books program. She went on to earn her master's in English literature from Georgetown University. As a founding MacLaren faculty member in 2009, Mrs. Rector taught Literature and Composition, ninth-grade Humane Letters, and Medieval History. After a brief time living out of state, Mrs. Rector returned to Colorado and worked at Bishop Machebeuf High School, where she developed the curriculum for the Classical Program and led the efforts to transform this program to a full-school curriculum, before teaching English at Regis Jesuit High School. MacLaren was thrilled to have Mrs. Rector return last year in a leadership position, overseeing the curriculum for the Upper School program.
Mrs. Hall notes, “Bridget Rector is an exceptional teacher, colleague, and school leader, and is an outstanding choice to assume the Executive Director role. In addition to a deep understanding of the liberal arts and a genuine heart of service, she has all the skills necessary to manage and lead an organization the size of MacLaren. I have complete confidence that Mrs. Rector is the right person for the job, and I feel very peaceful handing off the job to someone so bright, capable, and thoughtful. While I am not going anywhere quite yet, I am eager to begin to train Mrs. Rector in on the many facets of leading a K-12 organization, knowing that MacLaren is in good hands with her.”
Responding to her appointment, Mrs. Rector said, “I am truly honored by this opportunity to serve Thomas MacLaren School as the next Executive Director. I am immensely grateful for the commitment, thought, and hard work that Mary Faith Hall, along with founders Eric Hall and Katherine Brophy, put into building the school’s solid academic foundation and vibrant culture. This work has been continued by Heads of School Nico Alvarado and Ben LaBadie as well as so many other faculty and staff members who understand MacLaren’s mission and vision and are committed to its success. I look forward to working with school leadership, the Board of Directors, faculty, staff, and families to ensure the continued health and growth of this wonderful community.”
Paul von Boeck, Chair of the Board of Directors of Thomas MacLaren School, said, “I know I speak for the entire MacLaren community in expressing my deepest thanks to Mrs. Hall for her years of vision, leadership, and service to the community. The Board was apprehensive at the prospect of having to find her successor, knowing that she leaves such big shoes to fill, but we have been delighted to find in Bridget Rector a genuinely outstanding Executive Director who can lead the school for years to come.”