Mike Saxenian

Former Head of School of the McLean School

From 2013 to 2023, Mike Saxenian was Head of McLean School in Potomac, Maryland, a K-12 independent day school that is recognized nationally as a leader in college preparation for bright students with mild to moderate learning differences. At Mclean, he expanded enrollment from 328 students to 495, expanded program offerings, and oversaw the school’s first major capital campaign, a campus renovation, and the addition of a second campus. Prior to McLean School, Mike served as the Assistant Head of School and Chief Financial Officer at Sidwell Friends School, where he helped the school triple its net assets over twelve years, and led incorporation of cutting-edge environmental approaches to create the world’s first LEED Platinum secondary school building and four other buildings and landscapes that earned Platinum or Gold ratings. While at McLean and Sidwell, Mike served on the boards of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the National Association of Business Officers (NBOA), and the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington (AISGW), and served as Treasurer of NAIS and NBOA. 

Mike joined Sidwell Friends School from Discovery Communications, where he served as Vice President and General Manager of Discovery Travel Online. Earlier, Mike served as Vice President of Conservation Enterprise for Conservation International, where he founded and led CI’s flagship Conservation Enterprise Department to develop and support ecologically-sustainable enterprises and industry best-practices for the tourism, food, apparel and personal care industries. Mike has also helped start and operate businesses in the fields of education and appropriate technology. He co-authored the Appropriate Technology Sourcebook, an 800-page resource guide to technologies for rural development, and created a comprehensive 1,250 volume library for distribution to 1000 remote locations.

Much of Mike’s career was informed by two years he spent as a volunteer in Indonesia after graduating from university—first in a national center for non-formal education, and later as the country-wide volunteer program coordinator. Mike has served on the boards of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS, where he was Treasurer), the National Business Officers Association (NBOA), and the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington (AISGW), as well as the boards of several schools and other nonprofit organizations.