The Peddie School Board of Trustees has appointed Peter Quinn, a dynamic and visionary educator, to be the 16^th Head of School. Quinn oversaw Peddie’s admission office in the years immediately following the school’s historic $100 million gift from Walter H. Annenberg.

Quinn will assume responsibility of leading Peddie on July 1, 2013, when current Head of School John Green retires after a 12-year tenure.

“After a comprehensive, international search for a new school leader, the Board of Trustees is confident that Peter brings with him the necessary balance of dedication to the traditional virtues of education as well as passion for innovation and dynamism – both critical attributes to lead Peddie as we embark anew in our 150^th year,” said Christopher Acito, chairman of the board of trustees, and leader of the search committee.

Quinn is presently the Headmaster of Wakefield School, a preschool through 12^th-grade college preparatory school in Virginia.  Quinn’s accomplishments at Wakefield over the past 16 years have been significant. During his tenure, the school increased attendance from 244 students (with an annual operating deficit) to as many as 505 students (with an annual operating surplus). Quinn is credited with vastly improving the school by increasing faculty and staff, acreage, playing fields, and infrastructure.

Quinn’s appointment is a homecoming to Peddie, where he served as a teacher, coach, and administrator for a decade. Quinn was the director of admission and financial aid in 1993 when Peddie received the $100 million gift from Walter H. Annenberg, a member of the Peddie School class of 1927. Quinn was credited with being a “voice of integrity” at the school at the time that the Annenberg scholarship program was created and applications to the school tripled.

Quinn left Peddie in 1996 to assume the top leadership position at Wakefield, a school where he first began his teaching career in 1978. He graduated from Washington and Lee University with a B.A. in English, and received an M.A. in English from the University of Virginia. Quinn is the son of James H. McK. Quinn, headmaster of The Episcopal Academy from 1957 until 1975.

Quinn said he was drawn back to Peddie by the same unique characteristics that first attracted him here as an English teacher and soccer and lacrosse coach in 1985.  “Its location, history of diversity, proportion of day students, Baptist background, and democratic informality mean that Peddie appeals to those who seek a school with an aristocracy of excitement, curiosity, and character rather than one of privilege,” he said.

Acito said Quinn is uniquely suited to step on to campus ready to lead the school in the year it celebrates its 150^th anniversary.

“John Green’s twelve years were marked by a dedication to improving those elements that prepare Peddie students for success: our campus, programs, and strong teaching faculty,” Acito said. “He will leave Peddie a better institution than when he arrived. I have no doubt he is passing our school to a man who will do the same.”