Board of Reference

The BOARD OF REFERENCE is made up of (up to 15) individuals who are strongly aligned with the values and vision of The Geneva School, and who have agreed to lend their names and reputations to help promote the work of the school. Their names will appear in school publications and PR material, including the school website, and they undertake to endorse the school in their own circles of influence.

Eric Cook

Eric Cook serves as the president of the Society for Classical Learning (SCL) and has been formally associated with SCL for over a decade, serving in multiple roles including executive director and board chair. He was the head of school at Covenant Classical School in Fort Worth, TX, for thirteen years before joining SCL full-time in 2022. Prior to Covenant, Mr. Cook was the head of upper school at Faith Christian School in Roanoke, VA. He also taught and served in leadership at several public schools.

Mr. Cook earned a bachelor’s degree from Transylvania University and a master’s degree in instructional leadership from Northern Kentucky University. He is currently working on an EdS in classical school leadership from Gordon College. Mr. Cook has taught a myriad of subjects from philosophy to thesis. He consults with schools, coaches leaders in a variety of contexts, and speaks and presents at conferences around the country. Mr. Cook and his wife, Liz, have six children. They live in Richmond, VA, home of the SCL headquarters.

Cherie Harder

Cherie Harder serves as president of The Trinity Forum. Prior to joining The Trinity Forum in 2008, Ms. Harder served in the White House as special assistant to the president and director of policy and projects for First Lady Laura Bush.

Earlier in her career she served as policy advisor to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, advising on domestic social issues and serving as liaison and outreach director to outside groups. From 2001 to 2005, she was senior counselor to the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, where she helped the chairman design and launch the We the People initiative to enhance the teaching, study, and understanding of American history. Prior to that Ms. Harder was the policy director for Senator Sam Brownback and also served as deputy policy director at Empower America.

Ms. Harder has contributed articles to publications including Policy Review, Human Events, the Harvard Political Review, and various newspapers, as well as a chapter on fashion to the volume Building a Healthy Culture (Eerdmans 2001). Her ghost-written speeches and articles have appeared in Vital Speeches of the Day, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, and others.

She holds an Honors BA (magna cum laude) in government from Harvard University and a post-graduate diploma in literature from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, where she was a Rotary Scholar. She serves on the board of Gordon College, the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, and Faith and Law; and on the advisory boards of the National Civic Art Society and the National Museum of American Religion.

Ms. Harder was raised in New Mexico and currently lives in Northern Virginia.

Andrew Kern

Andrew Kern is the founder and president of the CiRCE Institute (Center for Independent Research on Classical Education), the husband of Karen, the father of five adult children, and the grandfather of (so far) nine grandchildren.

Mr. Kern has been researching, speaking, teaching, and consulting in the Christian classical renewal since 1993, during which he has been instrumental in the founding of three schools, consulted with over one hundred schools and co-ops, and served as director of classical instruction, academic dean, and headmaster. Andrew speaks regularly at homeschool and classical conferences.

In addition, Mr. Kern is the co-author with Dr. Gene Edward Veith of Classical Education, The Movement Sweeping America and, with Andrea Lipinski, The CiRCE Guide to Reading. He also led the development of CiRCE’s classical rhetoric program, The Lost Tools of Writing. He loves Homer, Shakespeare, Anne of Green Gables, and Endeavour. Like Shakespeare, he knows a little Latin and less Greek (a lot less than Shakespeare!).

Michael Lindsay

Michael Lindsay serves as the president of Taylor University, one of the nation’s leading Christian universities. Dr. Lindsay assumed this role after a decade of service at Gordon College on Boston’s North Shore. His tenure at Gordon coincided with record years of fundraising, campus diversity, sponsored research, athletic success, and faith expression on campus. Since assuming the Taylor presidency, the university has experienced significant momentum in advancement, admissions, and campus excitement for a new strategic plan.

Prior to arriving at Gordon, Lindsay was a member of the sociology faculty at Rice University, where he won multiple awards both for his teaching and academic research. He is the author of two dozen scholarly publications and numerous books, including Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite, which was nominated for the nonfiction Pulitzer Prize, and his award-winning View from the Top, which has been translated into Chinese and Japanese. His most recent book, Hinge Moments, was launched globally on the Taylor campus in 2021 and is published with InterVarsity Press.

Dr. Lindsay earned his PhD in sociology from Princeton University and graduate theological degrees from Wycliffe Hall at Oxford University and Princeton Theological Seminary. He is a summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Baylor University where he has been named Outstanding Young Alumnus.

Lindsay has been married for over twenty-five years to his wife, Rebecca, an accomplished teacher and speaker who serves as Taylor’s ambassador for the university. They are the proud parents of three daughters, Elizabeth, Caroline, and Emily.

Ken Myers

Ken Myers is the host and producer of the Mars Hill Audio Journal, a bimonthly audio magazine that examines issues in contemporary culture from a framework shaped by Christian conviction. He was formerly the editor of This World: A Journal of Religion and Public Life, a quarterly journal whose editor-in-chief was Richard John Neuhaus. Prior to his tenure at This World, he was executive editor of Eternity magazine.

For eight years, he was a producer and editor for National Public Radio, working for much of that time as arts and humanities editor for the two news programs, Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

Mr. Myers serves as a contributing editor for Christianity Today, and his published writings include All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians and Popular Culture (1989). He is a graduate of the University of Maryland, where he studied film theory and criticism, and of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He is married and has two children, and lives in Central Virginia.

Christopher Perrin

Christopher Perrin is the CEO of Classical Academic Press and a national leader, author, and speaker for the renewal of classical education. He is the author of An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents and Greek for Children Primer A, and he is co-author of the Latin for Children series. He serves as a consultant to Christian classical schools, schools converting to the classical model, and homeschool co-ops. He is the director of the Alcuin Fellowship, former co-chair of the Society for Classical Learning, and an adjunct professor with the honor’s program at Messiah College and with the classical school leadership master’s program at Gordon College. Chris previously served for ten years as a headmaster of a classical Christian school in Harrisburg, PA.

Dr. Perrin received his bachelor’s in history from the University of South Carolina and his MDiv and PhD in apologetics from Westminster Theological Seminary. He has a passion for classical education and is a lover of goodness, truth, and beauty wherever it is found.

Inspiring students to love beauty, think deeply, and pursue Christ's calling.