Dr. Ara Brown Appointed Interim Head of Upper School

Dear Cranbrook Schools community,

I am delighted to be writing to you today to share that Dr. Ara Brown has accepted my invitation to serve as interim Head of Upper School for the 2026–2027 academic year, effective July 1. With this appointment, we are welcoming back to Cranbrook a deeply respected educator, leader, and colleague who spent nearly a decade helping to shape our Upper School community and whose return is cause for genuine celebration.

From 2010 to 2018, Dr. Brown served with distinction as Dean of Boys at the Upper School, overseeing key elements of our student life and residential programs. During his tenure, Ara was widely regarded as thoughtful, wise, principled, and compassionate, and was admired by faculty and staff colleagues, warmly trusted by families, and beloved by day and boarding students alike.

Since leaving Cranbrook, Ara has continued to broaden and deepen his independent school expertise. He was the founding Head of Upper School and later Assistant Head of School at Whittle School & Studios in Washington, DC, and then served as Upper School Director at Polytechnic School in Pasadena, California. Most recently, he has done work as a senior search consultant, designing professional development for schools on leadership, belonging, and organizational change, and heading retained searches for senior administrators and heads of schools.

In addition to his administrative work, Dr. Brown has maintained a rich teaching life, having taught psychology courses at both the secondary and post-secondary levels. His scholarship and thought leadership are nationally recognized, and he has published and presented widely on leadership, recruitment, and the experiences of educators of color in independent schools.

Ara’s academic preparation reflects both depth and breadth. He is a graduate of Ursinus College, with a B.S. in psychology and sociology and a minor in art; he holds two master’s degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University (an M.A. in organizational psychology and an M.Ed. in counseling psychology); and he earned an Ed.D. in educational leadership at the University of Pennsylvania. His expertise grounds his work in both human-centered care and strategic, systems-level thinking, qualities that, without question, will serve our Upper School community exceptionally well.

As part of our ongoing commitment to a vibrant and fully engaged residential program, Dr. Brown will be living on campus and participating actively in our boarding community. Ara’s spouse, Nola-rae Cronon, herself an independent school administrator, currently serves as the Head of Carlthorp School, a K–6 school in Santa Monica, California. They are the proud parents of two grown children, Kalah and Noah, both of whom attended Cranbrook Schools when they were children.

One of the most joyful aspects of this appointment is how it reflects a homecoming for Ara. As he himself shares:

Please join me, then, in welcoming Dr. Ara Brown back home to Cranbrook Schools. I am beyond thrilled to see all that his wisdom, warmth, and vision will bring to us in the coming academic year.

With sincere enthusiasm,

Jeff Suzik, Ph.D.
Director of Cranbrook Schools