Camille Bertram Receives the Gourley Award

Camille (Cammie) Bertram, founder and president of The Bertram Group, LLC, in Westport, Connecticut, was named the 2017 recipient of the Everett E. Gourley award from The Enrollment Management Association at the Annual Conference in New Orleans.

The award, named for Everett Gourley, former director of admission and assistant headmaster at Asheville School (NC), is given each year to the educator whose interest in students and concern for colleagues is an inspiration to those who serve in admission.

Bertram has served independent schools for more than 20 years. A certified educational planner, she founded The Bertram Group to provide consultation for students and their families facing educational choices for college, boarding school, and independent day school. In her work, Bertram strives to find each student a school where he or she can experience success on every level: academically, socially, and emotionally. Bertram is well known within the educational community for the sound, informed advice she provides to students and families across diverse backgrounds, abilities, and interests. In addition to her broad experience with traditional boarding school programs, she is also a leading consultant in special needs and therapeutic placement.

As he presented the award to Cammie, Tom Southworth of Southworth Educational Consulting, LLC (RI), quoted Jon Deveaux, dean of admissions and enrollment management at Westminster School (CT): “Cammie is not only one of the best consultants I know, but one of the best people I know. She cares passionately about people: her students, their families, her colleagues in schools, her friends, and especially her family. I feel incredibly fortunate to call her a colleague, and more meaningfully, a friend.”

Bertram has served on the boards of numerous organizations—including The Enrollment Management Association—and has spoken widely at national and regional forums on education and educational directions.

MacGregor Robinson (1964-2017) Receives the Bretnall Award

In honor of the recently deceased MacGregor Robinson’s extensive career in independent school admission and financial aid around the globe, as well as his enduring legacy within the independent school community at large, he was posthumously named recipient of the 2017 Bretnall Award.

MacGregor Robinson had a distinguished and broad 30-year career in admission and financial aid. He began as an English teacher, administrator, student advisor, and housemaster at Berkshire School (MA), and then worked as an admission professional and student advisor at The Gunnery (CT), Trinity Pawling School (NY), and King’s Academy in Madaba, Jordan. During the 1990s, he had the honor of working for King Hussein I and Queen Noor of Jordan while tutoring Prince Hashim and working with Prince Hamzah and the Princess’ Raiah and Iman. Last June, MacGregor returned to Trinity Pawling as its director for external relations. He is a graduate of Brooks School (MA) and of Princeton and Brown universities. He died September 4, 2017, after a short illness, at home in Norfolk, Connecticut.

In the U.S. and abroad, Robinson was committed in all of his work to making a difference in the lives of students. EMA’s Aimee Gruber, sharing from a letter written by MacGregor to his sister-in-law, educational consultant Melissa Robinson (Robinson/Scholastic Objectives, LLC, CT), read: “The essence of my job today requires me to assess boys quickly and accurately, connect with them at a very human level, and communicate how my school can help them realize the best version of themselves that they nurture secretly in their hearts.”

Tom Sheppard, dean of enrollment management at The Lawrenceville School (NJ), offered some insight into MacGregor’s passion for mentorship: “Determined to make a difference, MacGregor felt that in today’s complex world, students needed effective mentors more than ever. He hoped that others would carry this notion forward even if he was no longer able to do so. “

JP Burlington, director of admission at Trinity Pawling School, accepted the award on behalf of MacGregor’s family, reading from a note MacGregor recently sent in response to a family’s email: “Mentoring has been my life’s work and so, in whatever time is left, I hope to raise the funds needed to hire, compensate, and honor faculty members who base their careers on the notion that soothing teenage fears, insecurities, and paranoia is not just necessary, but the single most important thing we do.” Trinity Pawling School recently established the MacGregor Robinson Endowed Chair for Mentoring in his honor. For more information, visit the school website at trinitypawling.org.