Across Clark from Parker, the Development and Communications team has been missing an instrumental member since the close of the 2016-17 school year. Starting January 3, Anedra Kerr will be filling the role left empty in June by Gina Rodriguez as Parker’s Chief Advancement Officer (CAO).  

The CAO position has been in existence for eight years at Parker. Its main purpose is to ensure that the fundraising and marketing arms of the school are operating in tandem, as well to as collaborate with the communications and admissions directors. In addition, the CAO oversees the website, supervises and guides messaging and marketing, leads the fundraising team, keeps in steady contact with donors, and works to maintain and increase funding.

Kerr was chosen by a small team comprised of Principal Dan Frank, Director of Human Resources Laureen Sweers, and Chief Financial Officer Bob Haugh. In order to fill this high level administrative position, Parker hired the same search firm that hired Rodriguez and her predecessor: Noetic.

The company gathered a group of 17 candidates to present to Frank, Sweers, and Haugh, who narrowed it down to seven and then four who came into the school and interviewed. Finally, Kerr was chosen.

Sweers said that it was Kerr’s people skills that most impressed. “The way she interacted with the staff members she’s either going to be managing or working with really set her apart from the other candidates,” Sweers said. “There was an automatic level of respect— she won me over with her people skills. You can tell she’s really passionate about education as well, and that is obviously what we do here, so it’s very encouraging to see that spilling out of her.”

Prior to coming to Parker, Kerr served as the Chief Development Officer at After School Matters. One of her most notable accomplishments during her two year tenure there was the completion of a $100 million dollar fundraising campaign. Before her work at After School Matters, Kerr worked for Advocate Health Care for over fifteen years in various executive-level positions.

Kerr says she was primarily motivated to apply for the Parker position due to her love for education. “I found out about the job from a recruiter, and I decided to apply for a few key reasons,” Kerr said. “One, my passion is really tied to education. My previous role was with an organization that was education-related, but being actually in the school on a day to day basis and working directly with teachers and the administration is closer to my heart and to my passion.”

Kerr’s passion for education can be traced back to her childhood here, in Chicago. “My background relating to education is more personal,” Kerr said. “Growing up, both of my parents were elementary school principals in Chicago Public Schools, so I grew up in a household that, to say the least, had a heavy focus on education. Any time that I wasn’t in school, I would come to school with one of them, and therefore I spent a lot of time helping out in their schools as a young person tutoring, painting, cleaning up, things like that. So through that, the core concept of the importance of education has been instilled in me since I was very young.”

Kerr is also excited about Parker’s commitment to inclusion. “Another reason that I’m excited about joining the Francis Parker team is that one of the main priorities of the administration of the school is to enhance opportunities for diverse students, so that they are able to attend Parker,” she said. “That’s very important to me, and I’m excited to be able to support that effort.”

Kerr had direct experience in a similar role at After School Matters. “Something that really differentiated Kerr from the other candidates was the fact that she had held a similar position previously,” Haugh said. “It was evident that she knew the job, which is huge. We needed someone who could just jump right in and wouldn’t need us to teach it to her.”

Kerr has no previous relationship to Parker. “The last time I was on Parker’s campus before I interviewed was when I was in elementary school at the University of Chicago Lab school,” Kerr said. “I had a lot of friends that went to Parker. I got in trouble with my mom once actually– I was in seventh grade, and I took the bus up to Francis Parker to visit a friend that I had a crush on at the time. I didn’t have permission to go, and I went home after that, and the first thing my mother said to me was: ‘What were you doing at Parker today?’”

Although Kerr is not sure what her day to day at Parker will look like just yet, she has a list of shorter term goals she is aiming to start working on as soon as she arrives in January. “My day to day will revolve around managing staff, developing strategy, working closely with donors and members of the board of trustees,” she said. “Some of my initial, shorter term goals are to come in, meet with the donors, the board of trustees, the administration, and the development team on a one-to-one basis, so we can get to know one another better.”
Kerr already has a few ideas for first steps otherwise. “I want to increase the overall philanthropy that Parker receives from the community on an annual basis,” she said. “The school has been very fortunate that the community has supported us over the whole history of the school, and in the future, I want to look for even more opportunities to expand the Parker donor family. In addition, I want to ensure our work always reflects the goals and ideals of the school as a whole– revenue–wise, and more broadly.”