About Roger J. Bass

Roger J. Bass has been active in the educational community since 1967. After nine years teaching English at Roosevelt High School in the Seattle Public Schools, Roger joined six others to found University Prep in Seattle. He served as head of school for twenty-five years. In 1977, the school had 82 students, a faculty and staff of 19, no property or buildings, and no endowment. When he retired, he left University Prep as a school with 430 students, a faculty and staff of 85, 650 alumni, a $27 million campus, and a $1.4 million endowment. He served as the President of the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools (PNAIS), chaired the Superintendent's Advisory Committee on Private Education for 18 years, and served as the national treasurer of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).

Roger has had extensive background in professional and community activities. He has served on the boards of Washington Commission for the Humanities, the United Way of King County, the Seattle Arts Commission (chair), Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theater, Washington Council for Economic Education, the Seattle Urban League, Friends of Youth (chair), Leadership Tomorrow, University District Rotary Club and Seattle Arts and Lectures (chair). He has served on the boards of Catlin Gabel School (Portland, Oregon)  and  Annie Wright School, (Tacoma, WA). He currently serves as a trustee of Cornish College of the Arts where he chairs the Trustee and Governance Committee and where he serves on the Executive Committee. Roger is chairing the Presidential Search Committee for Cornish College of the Arts.

Roger has received many honors and awards, including the President’s Award by Friends of Youth. He was selected by Esquire Magazine as "One Who is Changing America." He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Kettering Foundation, and the Klingenstein Center. In 2000, Seattle Mayor Paul Schell declared Roger J. Bass Day.

Roger holds a Master of Arts in Speech and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Washington.

He has served as a Board Trainer for the Volunteer Center at the United Way of King County and has been trained as a board trainer by Board Source.

He has been consulting with nonprofits since 1985. Roger J. Bass Consulting LLC was founded in 2001, and is incorporated in Delaware and licensed in Delaware and Washington state.

Roger is a partner of Resource Group 175, based in New York City.

The search Roger led was the most humane of those in which I participated. I felt the process was transparent and the information conveyed to me accurately reflected the school. Roger's willingness to work with us after the search was over, to lead our board in a workshop on "good governance" and "transition" was both enormously helpful and informative.

Amy C. Richards, Head of School, Crystal Springs Uplands School, Hillsborough, CA

Forget re-accreditation and strategic planning; head selection is more treacherous than both of these. Selecting a next Head of School is often a critical time when boards must consider how to re-establish their schools and determine who best can connect the school with its mission going forward.

Going down these tortuous waters, take along an experienced guide; someone who can probe, facilitate, listen and probe some more.

Roger listens with the ear of an experienced former longtime head. His process, to help define the position, develop the candidate pool and aid the selection committee in recommending the right candidate, is exhaustive and inclusive. It is a process that independent schools must undertake as they move forward in their own unique way. We all seek to identify leaders who will help us graduate individuals who love learning and can live lives emblematic of our schools' missions. Roger gets this.

Julie Klingenstein, Search Committee Chair, The Barnesville School, MD