Scott Erickson

Dr. Scott Erickson is an independent school leader and has been head of school at Phillips Brooks School (PBS) in Menlo Park, California, since 2011. He successfully led a negotiation process to extend the school's lease through 2062, an entitlement process to add a new summer program, and a market study to launch the school's new brand in 2014. He has positioned PBS to initiate its first-ever comprehensive capital campaign to invest in faculty with creative solutions for talent retention, establish a new Invention Program, and build a community center. Scott designed a new faculty compensation system and expanded the PBS Early Learning Center into a full-day program. He implemented the school's first formal curriculum review process called the PBS Curriculum Deep Dive and designed a Program and Teaching Dashboard that uses an evidence-based methodology to track success metrics and key performance indicators. Scott has also focused on expanding parent education, optimizing community relationships, and partnering with the board to strengthen the school's financial position. A frequent speaker at workshops and conferences, Scott has served on the Bay Area Advisory Council for Common Sense, the Advisory Board for Art and Science, and the board of Children's Day School in San Francisco. He founded and convenes the Peninsula Heads Group to create a collaborative environment among independent schools on the Bay Area Peninsula. Prior to moving to San Francisco, Scott was middle school director at the National Cathedral School for Girls in Washington, D.C. He began his independent school career as a teacher, chaplain, and humanities department chair at St. Paul's School, a co-educational boarding school in New Hampshire. An Iowa native, Scott has an undergraduate degree in music, and he holds a doctorate from Uppsala University in Sweden, where he lived for over five years.