School Leadership

Jody Reilly Soja became the eighth head of the Loomis Chaffee School in 2024. Jody has an undergraduate degree in political science from Bates College and later earned a Master of Education 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 in New Hampshire and then in the Dean of Students Office at Walnut Hill School in Massachusetts. In 1999, Jody first accepted a position at Indian Mountain School (IMS), a pre-K-through-grade-nine junior boarding and day school, as a history and English Language Learning humanities teacher. She also coached soccer and lacrosse and worked as a residential faculty member. Over the next 10 years, Jody continued to serve 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 to 2009, Jody and her husband, Kevin Soja, lived at the Millbrook School while Jody 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 at National Cathedral School, a private all-girls school in Washington, D.C., to be the head of the middle school and later the director of faculty development while Kevin served as the dean of students at Episcopal High School, where they lived with their two young boys, Russell and William, until 2015. In 2015, Jody was named the ninth head of school at Indian Mountain School, where she served for nine years before accepting the position at Loomis Chaffee.

Jody has served as a trustee for The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), Pomfret School, and the Elementary School Heads Association, and she is currently a trustee at the Renbrook School in West Hartford, Conn., and the vice president of the board for the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools. Jody has been a presenter at the National Association of Independent Schools and TABS conferences on the topics of financial stewardship and strategic planning, as well as a presenter at the TABS symposium for new boarding school heads.

In her first year at Loomis, Jody oversaw a community-wide strategic planning process culminating in Advancing the Founders’ Vision: The Loomis Chaffee Strategic Plan 2025–30. The plan guides the work of the school as we seek to inspire in all our community members a lifetime commitment to the best self and the common good.