School Leadership

The Loomis Chaffee Trustees have appointed Jody Reilly Soja as the eighth head of school and president of The Loomis Institute.

Raised by two educators, Jody was born in Lewiston, Maine, to parents who both worked at Bates College at the time, and she grew up in Middlebury, Vermont, where her father worked for nearly 30 years at Middlebury College. She returned to Lewiston to pursue her undergraduate degree in political science at Bates College. While at Bates, Jody spent a semester abroad in Durban, South Africa, with the School for International Training studying political reconstruction after the fall of apartheid. In 2003, Jody earned her Ed.M. in Teaching and Learning from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

In 1998, Jody began her career in schools working at the Wolfeboro Camp School and then in the Dean of Students office at Walnut Hill School. In 1999, Jody accepted a position at Indian Mountain School (IMS) as a history and ELL humanities teacher. She also coached soccer and lacrosse and worked as a residential faculty member. Over the next 10 years, Jody became an integral member of the IMS community. She filled various positions and roles in addition to teaching American history, including assistant athletic director, assistant dean of studies, upper school head, dean of faculty, and dorm head. From 2003–2009, Jody lived with her husband, Kevin Soja, at the Millbrook School in New York state while she worked at IMS. After leaving IMS in 2009, Jody taught history, coached lacrosse, and served as an advisor at Millbrook. In 2011, Jody was hired to be the head of the middle school and later the director of faculty development at National Cathedral School, a private all-girls school in Washington, D.C. while Kevin served as the dean of students at Episcopal High School where they lived with their two young boys, Russell and William.

In 2015, Jody returned to IMS as the ninth head of school. During her tenure as head, Jody has led the school through two strategic planning processes that laid the groundwork to grow enrollment by 35 percent, revitalize the campus, expand programming, and exceed fundraising goals.

Jody serves as a trustee for The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) and Pomfret School and was formerly a board member for the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) and the Elementary School Heads Association (ESHA).