Gordon's Head of School

"Our families want a meaningful and purposeful education for their child. And they believe that Gordon is the place to find just that." Above, hear Dr. Noni Thomas López explain what makes the Gordon experience unique.

Noni Thomas López was appointed the Head of School of the Gordon School in East Providence, RI on July 1, 2018.  

Before joining Gordon, Dr. Thomas López worked for twenty years as a teacher and administrator in independent schools in New York City. From 2014 to 2018, she was the Assistant Head of School for Teaching and Learning at Ethical Culture Fieldston School where she was responsible for overseeing curriculum, instruction, faculty development, and strategic academic initiatives, from Pre-K to twelfth grade. Previous to this appointment, Dr. Thomas López served as the Head of Middle School at the Nightingale-Bamford School and Middle School Director of the Calhoun School.In addition to her work in New York, her classroom career included time at Greensboro Day School and Ravenscroft School in North Carolina, as well as eight years at the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School in New York.

Dr. Thomas López was a trustee of the Caedmon School in New York City from 2010 to 2013 and the Bronx Charter School for the Arts from 2014 to 2019. She currently serves on multiple national and regional boards, including the National Association of Independent Schools, the Association of Independent Schools of New England, the Headmistresses Association of the East, Community Preparatory School in South Providence, and Inspiring Minds, a not-for-profit organization that prepares Providence elementary school students for success in school and life by supporting them with trusted relationships, tutoring, and mentoring from local community members.

In 2013, Dr. Thomas López founded the Interschool Leadership Institute for Educators of Color, a weeklong program designed to support the next generation of leaders of independent schools.  During the institute, participants engage in dialogue with each other and experts in the fields of education, psychology, and organizational leadership to develop the social and emotional competencies that are key to transformational leadership.

Dr. Thomas López has presented at multiple national and regional conferences and consulted at universities as well as public and private schools on curriculum, diversity, equity and inclusion, board governance, and organizational leadership. She also served as a script consultant with Sesame Workshop on issues of adolescent development and racial and social justice for the Emmy-award winning television show Ghost Writer, and with Sinking Ship Productions for the YouTube series Locked Down.  

Dr. Thomas López holds a BA in English from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, an MA in Education Leadership with a concentration in Private School Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she was awarded a Joseph Klingenstein Fellowship, and an Ed.D in Educational and Organizational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.