School Leadership

Edward J. Shanahan has been in secondary and post-secondary education in New England for over 40 years. From 1972 to 1981, he was Dean of Students and member of the faculty at Wesleyan University; then he became Dean of College and member of faculty at Dartmouth College, from 1981 to 1991, and in the last 20 years till 2011, Dr. Shanahan was Headmaster of Choate Rosemary Hall. He has also served as Chair of the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE), and later as President of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). He is the Founding President of Keystone Academy, in addition to being the Executive Director of the Eight Schools Association (ESA), a consortium of distinguished New England boarding schools, as well as a Life Trustee of Choate Rosemary Hall. And for the last decade, Dr. Shanahan has been presiding over the Board of Directors of the Icahn Foundation for Greater Opportunity.

Emily McCarren, Ph.D. is the Executive Head of School at Keystone Academy in Beijing, China. Previously, she was the Academy (High School) Principal at the Punahou School in Honolulu Hawaii, the largest single campus K-12 independent school in the United States. During her distinguished 16-year tenure at Punahou, Emily McCarren taught all levels of Spanish, traveled the world as head of the Wo International Center, and championed the aspirations of nearly 2,000 students, faculty, and staff as Academy Principal. She led consequential initiatives guided by her creativity and passion to forge meaningful educational experiences aimed at helping students reach new heights.

Originally from Vermont, USA, Dr. McCarren graduated from Colby College in Maine where she majored in Spanish and Biology. She holds a Ph.D. from the department of Learning Design and Technology at the University of Hawaii, where her research focused the role of teacher care on a student’s online learning experience. She also holds two master’s degrees: in Spanish Literature from the Saint Louis University Madrid Campus and in Educational Leadership from the Klingenstein Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

McCarren began her career teaching Spanish and Geometry at Swiss Semester, a program for American students in the Swiss Alps. Next, she worked at The Thacher School in Ojai, California, where she taught, coached, and served as a residential advisor for six years before joining the faculty at the Punahou School in 2006. 

With Yong Zhao and other collaborators, McCarren is a co-author of the three-book series Take Action Guide to World Class Learners (Corwin, 2016). She has also served on the Board of the Global Online Academy and the Mastery Transcript Consortium. McCarren speaks to audiences globally about her passion, leadership, and action towards educational change and the moral imperative to provide our students with the schools they deserve, and our world needs.

Taryn Loveman is the current Assistant Head of School for Teaching and Learning at Keystone Academy in Beijing. Taryn has over 30 years of experience in education. He has taught every grade level from kindergarten to students working on their master's degrees in the PACMED program at the University of Hawaii. Taryn has held both teaching and leadership positions in San Diego, Sendai, Tokyo, Honolulu and now Beijing.   

In addition to teaching, Taryn has coached at many age levels including sports such as wrestling, American football, sumo and competitive martial arts. Taryn helped found and coordinate the Creative Arts and Design Center specialized in robotics, computer science, product design and engineering at the American school in Japan (ASIJ). He later established and ran the K-12 Design Technology and Engineering program for nearly 4000 students at Punahou School in Hawaii.   

Taryn has a long history of designing and implementing programs to deliver innovative and experiential learning. While at Punahou, he helped found and co-lead the Hawiian voyaging canoe program which included the design, construction and sailing of a 32 foot Wa’a named “Kamaola”. He has also created and run many transdisciplinary units across diverse subjects and age levels.  

Taryn earned a double major in anthropology and history from the University of California at Santa Cruz with Honors in history. He also has a teaching credential from California State University San Marcos. He holds a master's in education (with a focus on place-based STEM curriculum design) from the University of Hawaii. He also has a 12-course professional certificate in innovation and entrepreneurship from Stanford University and a certificate in sustainability and resilience from the University of Hawaii among other certificates.   

Taryn has been married to his wife Lynn for 28 years and they have two children named Maxine and Matai. Taryn enjoys kitesurfing, sailing canoes, martial arts, reading historical fiction, traveling and learning from people in many cultures.

Rae Yang is the Assistant Head of School for School Affairs at Keystone Academy in Beijing. She has extensive experience in cross-cultural education management and children and adolescent well-being. During her ten-year tenure at the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, she served as the Director of School Office and Deputy Director at the International Curriculum Center. She was responsible for school operations, institutional and government relations, strategic development initiatives, and most notably integrating International Baccalaureate (IB), A-Level, and Advanced Placement (AP) programs with the Chinese national curricula. Alongside those roles, she also taught Psychology, Theory of Knowledge (ToK), and Mathematics extensively to secondary and high school students in IB, AP, and the Chinese national curriculum. Before joining education, Rae worked at the global advisory and advocacy firm APCO Worldwide, specializing in government relations and crisis management.

Rae received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at Yale University, graduated cum laude, and her Master of Science degree in Developmental Psychology at Brown University. She is a certified counsellor by the British Psychological Society, a certified hypnotist, a lifetime member of the American Psychological Association, and a member of the Behavioral Genetics Committee at the Genetics Society of China.

She has led or involved in several national, municipal, and district-level education research projects and co-authored “Emotional Intelligence and Self-Cognition in Daily Conversations: The Application of Generative AI in Mental Health Education” in Primary and Secondary School Information and Technology Education, 2024(07): 12-15, “Understanding the Immigrant Paradox in Youth: Developmental and Contextual Considerations.” In Masten, A., Liebkind, K., & Hernandez, D. (Eds.) Capitalizing on migration. The potential of immigrant youth. New York: Cambridge University Press (2013).

Lily Liu has nearly 20 years of experience in finance and operations. She previously worked as CFO at Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG), ChinaEdu Corp, and MainOne Information Technology. Prior to that, Ms. Liu worked at Lehman Brothers in New York and Hong Kong in their investment banking division. Ms. Liu is also an avid lover of contemporary art and currently serves on the patron board of UCCA Art Center in Beijing. Ms. Liu received her bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and her MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Nick Daniel has worked in IB schools across the world for over two decades, including postings in Peru, Argentina, Thailand, and China. Mr. Daniel has taught IB and MYP Language and Literature and Theory of Knowledge (TOK). He is also an IB examiner and workshop leader for TOK and has served on school evaluation teams for the Council of International Schools (CIS), the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and the International Baccalaureate. Before joining Keystone Academy, Nick was an IB Diploma Coordinator for ten years at schools in China and South Korea. Nick is passionate about developing lifelong learners who can innovate, and who have the initiative, resilience, and creativity to thrive in the 21st century global community. He comes to Keystone with his wife Cecilia, who will work in the school’s Center for Student Development, and their daughter Ella. Nick is also a writer in his spare time, focusing on short stories and poetry.

Dr. Houming Jiang currently serves as the Head of Middle School at Keystone Academy. Before joining Keystone, Houming was the Head of Middle School and All-school Student Activities Director at Tsinglan School in Guangdong Province. Prior to this he was the founding Deputy Head of Lower and Middle School at Whittle (Huitong) School in Shenzhen. Houming also worked at International School of Beijing as a founding faculty member of Futures Academy, which focused on interdisciplinary project-based curriculum. After college, Houming taught in rural China on the Burmese border for two years and became an advocate for service learning. Houming has his teacher licensure in China, U.S. and U.K. and aspires to ground the best practices of international education in Chinese context.

As a Beijing native, Houming attended Xiamen University for his bachelor degree in accounting, completed a master’s degree in private school leadership from Columbia University as well as a Doctor of Education from The University of Hong Kong. In his spare time, Houming enjoys triathlon training and discussion of topics in social studies.

Beryl Nicholson has been working in international schools for over 30 years and has substantial teaching, leadership, and management experience. She is also experienced in current international school accreditation, IB authorization, and child protection. Beryl has worked in international schools in nine different countries ranging from Switzerland to Yemen and has a Masters in International Education, Administration & Management from the University of Massachusetts. In addition, she has a B. Ed. specializing in Science and Physical Education. Beryl’s commitment to working with a collaborative team combined with her many years of international experience will prove to be an important part of the school development plan.

A graduate of Johns Hopkins and Georgetown universities, Chris McColl spent seven years working at St. Albans School and National Cathedral School in Washington, DC before moving to London, where he spent 10 years as a teacher and administrator at the American School in London. At these schools, he taught English, history, and math, and served as an advisor, grade leader, summer program director, financial aid manager, curriculum committee chair, and admission officer. Prior to joining Keystone, he spent 13 years as Director of Admissions at Hackley School, a K-12 day and boarding school just outside New York City. Mr. McColl has presented at professional conferences in the United States and Europe on numerous topics including parent engagement, data management, and the assessment of character in admission work.