Tribute to a Board Chair

Sheis unassuming, but do not be fooled. Jane Berry Jacques ’72 has been an agent of growth and progress at Harpeth Hall for years. Make that decades. The fruits of her 40+ years of labor on behalf of the school have yielded significant impacts, including the Athletic Wellness Center and Bullard Bright IDEA Lab as well as the installation of two Heads of School, Stephanie Balmer and Jess Hill. There is little on campus, or in the school’s culture, that Mrs. Jacques has not in some way touched. As a girl, Jane grew up within walking distance of Harpeth Hall, but she was born an ocean away in Yorkshire, England. Both of her parents were British: her father a physician and her mother a nurse. The family moved to Nashville when little Jane was 18 months old to allow her father to complete his residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and — save for a two-year return to their homeland when Jane was 5 — the Berrys have remained in Nashville ever since.

That Jane and her younger sister, Helen, would attend Harpeth Hall was a given, not merely because the family settled nearby on Esteswood but because education was of critical importance to all of them. At one point in time, Mrs. Jacques fully expected to pursue a career as an educator. Having earned a Bachelor of Arts and subsequently a Master of Science from Vanderbilt University, she returned to Harpeth Hall to serve as the college counselor and dean of students from 1982 to 1985. Incoming Board Chair Crissy Wieck ’96 notes that one of Mrs. Jacques’ advisees was her own sister-in-law, Amy Welhoelter ’87, who credits Mrs. Jacques with helping her find Colgate University, a somewhat outlier choice for the times, which proved to be the perfect fit. Mrs. Jacques relished working with students and faculty alike and could envision herself becoming a head of school one day, but her family life took priority. She had met and married Jack Jacques and become mother to Lindsay (who went on to graduate Harpeth Hall in 2006) and Matthew (later the husband of Harpeth Hall alumna, Anna Mayo Jacques ’03). Mr. Jacques’ work called for intensive travel and so Mrs. Jacques readily assumed responsibility for managing the affairs of family and home. Though Mrs. Jacques never returned to education as a career, she did return to it robustly as a passion. To say that her devotion to Harpeth Hall has been tireless

is a colossal understatement. Mrs. Jacques began her first term as a trustee nearly 20 years ago and twice served as vice chair. She has chaired several fundraising campaigns, including the alumnae committee for The Campaign for Harpeth Hall and the major gifts committee for The Annual Fund in 2006-07 and again in 2007-08 alongside her husband Jack, himself a past Harpeth Hall trustee. Mrs. Jacques co-chaired The Next Step Campaign, which spanned six years and raised $35.6 million for the construction of the new Athletic Wellness Center. When she assumed the role of chair and president of the Harpeth Hall Board of Trustees on July 1, 2018, her leadership would be tested, needed, and stretched in ways no one could have foreseen.

As Ms. Hill explains, “In the past four years, there have been a lot of meetings and phone calls that called for her fortitude — through a search for a new head of school, through social unrest, through COVID, and through the loss of her father and mother in the midst of the thousands of hours she has given to Harpeth Hall. I don’t think there is another person who could have given unceasingly in the way she has given to us during this time.” Mrs. Jacques’ leadership style has always been characterized by this level of devotion, stamina, and resolve. She is a keen listener and a consensus builder who is unafraid to make decisions. She is also gracious and known for her warm and ready smile. Ms. Hill notes how well these qualities have served Harpeth Hall, especially during the challenges of the past four years, and how much she personally appreciates them. “I am grateful to Jane for listening, clarifying,

Jane's connection to Harpeth Hall has endured across the decades from her time as a student to her role as chair of the board of trustees, and her love of this place has only grown stronger. It shows in

every interaction. — Jess Hill, Head of School

standing firm when she needed to, and being open to new ideas on how to navigate the challenges that neither of us expected,” Ms. Hill said. Incoming Board Chair Ms. Wieck echoes those sentiments: “Jane took the reins of board chair at a difficult time for our school and our board and worked diligently to lead us gently out of tragedy and into a new era, with a new head of school and a unified vision for the future.”

The next step in fulfilling that vision is a new capital campaign, which Mrs. Jacques helped formulate and gain approval by the Board of Trustees. It focuses on spaces for STEM and envisions a “bright tomorrow” that Mrs. Jacques has helped articulate. To get there will require a trifecta of core qualities — willingness of spirit, commitment to bold ideas, and a drive to act upon a vision — the very qualities that Mrs. Jacques herself embodies. This year has been an especially poignant year for Mrs. Jacques, not only because it is her last as board chair. A graduate of the class of 1972, she and her classmates just celebrated their 50th reunion. Mrs. Jacques missed the actual festivities because of COVID-19. After she devoted so much of her tenure as chair to navigating pandemic-related challenges, some could view it as a harsh irony, but Mrs. Jacques doesn’t see it that way. The occasion was meaningful well beyond the confines of the gathering itself. Of all the gifts that Harpeth Hall bestows upon its graduates, its faculty and staff, its parents and volunteers, the connections forged and friendships made might well be the most valuable of all. “It’s all about the connections,” she emphasizes. Mrs. Jacques makes one final point: a small but revealing one. “Most people don’t put their high school on their resumes, but Harpeth Hall graduates do,” she says. She is right. As she moves on from her role as board chair, Mrs. Jacques has no need of a resume — she is ready to fill her time with jogging and grandchildren. But, were she to compile one, along with her litany of leadership positions at Harpeth Hall, her commitments to the Nashville community at large, including serving as president of the Junior League of Nashville and of the Friends of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, and with the degrees she earned from Vanderbilt University, her resume would undoubtedly and proudly read Harpeth Hall School, Class of 1972. Likewise our roster of board chairs will proudly read Jane Berry Jacques 2018-2022.

Jane Berry Jacques at a Glance

• 23 years as a trustee • 2 Head of School searches • 3 years as the Harpeth Hall college counselor • 35.6 million dollars raised as co-chair of Next Step Campaign • 4 years as chair of the Harpeth Hall Board of Trustees • 13 total committees served (at least!) • 1 Bullard Bright IDEA Lab overseen • 1 global pandemic navigated • 12 years as vice chair of the Harpeth Hall Board of Trustees • 1 sister, Helen Berry Holland ’82, retiring as a teacher • 6 alumna relatives (sister, daughter, daughter-in-law, niece, stepgranddaughters) • 54 years of active engagement with Harpeth Hall

ANNOUNCING Harpeth Hall’s new board chair Crissy Wieck ’96

Class of 1996 alumna Crissy Wieck assumed the role of Harpeth Hall board chair and president on July 1, 2022. Ms. Wieck has been actively involved in the life of the school for the past 16 years in a variety of roles as an alumna volunteer leader and as the mother of Gabby Welhoelter ’22 and Fina Welhoelter ’28. She has served on the Head’s Young Alumnae Council and has chaired the Alumnae Association Board, the Alumnae Annual Fund, and the Annual Fund Major Gifts Committee. Following her service as an ex officio member of the Harpeth Hall Board of Trustees from 2013 to 2015, Ms. Wieck joined the board as a trustee in 2018 and has chaired the Campaign Steering Committee for the past three years. A frequent presenter at Harpeth Hall career days, Ms. Wieck is the chief sales officer for Western Express, Inc., a large tier industry truckload carrier with terminals stretching from Pennsylvania to California. Ms. Wieck’s niece Ava Cupit, daughter of Rachel Wieck Cupit ’00, will join Harpeth Hall’s Class of 2030 in the fall. Ms. Wieck is hopeful that her youngest daughter, Maria Wiltshire, will follow in her family’s footsteps and join the Class of 2036 in the years to come. Ms. Wieck has a son, Wyatt Welhoelter, who is a rising 9th grader at Montgomery Bell Academy, and her husband, Matt Wiltshire, has two sons, Alex and John. She is a passionate advocate of educational excellence for girls and considers her Harpeth Hall experience one of the most formative experiences of her life. She is also a huge fan of the Nashville Soccer Club having played soccer all four years for Maryville College, where she majored in business and history.