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School Leadership

Members of the Board of Regents on a panel at a school meeting.
Head of School Quentin McDowell standing outside Traylor Hall at Mercersburg Academy

Quentin McDowell is Mercersburg’s eighth head of school and has served on the faculty in a number of roles since 2007.

Before accepting the acting head of school position in June 2021, Quentin was named Mercersburg’s associate head of school for external relations in 2019 after serving for three years as assistant head of school for enrollment. He arrived at Mercersburg in 2007 as a member of the history faculty and became director of summer and extended programs in 2008—a position he held until 2012, when he joined the Admission Office as the senior associate director of admission and financial aid. Quentin also served as the head boys’ varsity soccer coach for eight years, leading the Blue Storm to its first-ever Mid-Atlantic Prep League championship and the PAISAA state championship game in 2014. Prior to his arrival at Mercersburg, he was, for two years, a member of the history faculty and head boys’ varsity soccer coach at Cushing Academy in Massachusetts.

Quentin has played an active role in professional associations like The Enrollment Management Association, The Association of Boarding Schools, and the Independent Educational Consultants Association, where he has become known as an engaged educational leader. Quentin is also co-founder of the Erdmann Institute for Enrollment Leadership, co-founder and faculty member of the Future Leaders Institute, and a member of the Forbes Business Council.

A native of Washington state, Quentin attended Holderness School in Plymouth, New Hampshire, as a postgraduate student before matriculating to Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies. He holds a master’s degree in educational leadership and administration from George Washington University. Quentin and his wife, Lauren, have three children: Nina ’25, Ewan ’27, and Rooney.

Over my 20-year career in education, I have always been driven by a desire to serve a greater purpose, and it is hard to imagine a cause more worthy than playing a role in the development of the young people we serve right here each day.

Quentin McDowell P ’25, ’27