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 DP 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 earned his BA with honors from the Victoria University of Manchester and a Master of Education, with a focus on school leadership, from The Open University. He has also received certification from Harvard Business School, with a focus on Leading Schools and Leading Change, as part of Harvard's Certificate in School Management and Leadership Programme. 

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 is at Keystone with his wife Cecilia 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.

Marcelle van Leenen brings over 27 years of experience in international education to the Primary School at Keystone Academy, having worked in International Baccalaureate (IB) schools across several countries, including the Netherlands, China, Vietnam, Qatar, Cambodia, and Latvia. Most recently, Marcelle worked in Africa as Primary School Principal at Windhoek International School in Namibia.

Originally from the Netherlands, Marcelle was born in the United Kingdom and raised internationally. This multicultural upbringing fostered an immediate connection with the diverse communities found in international schools and shaped her passion for creating internationally minded individuals through the broader mission of the IB. Marcelle is the proud mother of two sons, both of whom are IB graduates and are currently attending university.

Throughout her career, Marcelle has held various teaching and leadership roles in both Secondary and Primary settings. She has developed particular expertise in language across the curriculum, effective instructional practices, and inquiry-based, constructivist approaches to teaching and learning.

Next to leading schools, Marcelle is committed to being part of the international educator learning network. She serves as a trainer, consultant, and school evaluation leader for the International Baccalaureate. Her most recent comprehensive leadership development, undertaken through the Association for the Advancement of International Education (AAIE), focused on key areas including governance, school culture, and international school management, alongside specialized training through the Principals’ Training Center (PTC). Marcelle earned a Master of Arts in English Language and Literature, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (International), and a Bachelor of Arts in Education and English.

Her values of equity, inclusion, and multilingual learning continue to guide her work as she leads primary education at Keystone.

Gregg Maloberti began his career as an English teacher after graduating from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and eventually moved into the admissions work. He was Dean of Admissions at several outstanding schools in the United States, including Alexander Dawson School in Colorado, Cranbrook Schools in Michigan, and Brooks School in Massachusetts. He then spent 15 years as Dean of Admission at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, a top boarding school on the East Coast of the United States. At the same time, he received his master’s and doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and has since been a notable writer and researcher in the educational field. 

Following his time at Lawrenceville, Gregg served as headmaster at two schools in Asia—at the Canadian International School of Hong Kong and then a start-up school (associated with Shattuck St. Mary’s School) in Malaysia for six years. 

Gregg is joined at Keystone by his wife, Amy, who has served as a math teacher, early childhood teacher, and worked in admission offices over the years. Gregg and Amy have three grown children who were all raised and educated in American boarding schools.