Headmaster Walter Johnson settles into his dark oak rocking chair just as he has done so many times before. Just from one meeting, one can witness his humble and kind presence and relatability one might not expect to find at the absolute head of our school. Mr. Johnson, of course, has been a longtime presence on the Hackley campus. He has served as our headmaster for the past 19 years and just recently announced his upcoming retirement in 2016.

Mr. Johnson leads every major change and innovation we see in the Hackley community, whether that be overseeing the construction of new buildings or hiring new faculty members, serving as, in his own words, “a director of a play, if you will, setting the scene for actors and performers to exhibit their talents.”

His actions in recent years have come to define the Hackley campus and community as we know it. It was Mr. Johnson’s initiative to purchase the 172 acres from the Laurance S. Rockefeller Fund in 1998, which now contain Hackley’s new fields complex and cross country trail system. After the library burnt down due to a freak lightning strike, it was Mr. Johnson’s leadership that restored the beauty of the Goodhue Memorial Library while creating an interior that actually enhanced the experience for students and for teachers. Mr. Johnson is the man behind every major action one observes on the Hackley campus. He carried Hackley into the 21st century, keeping Hackley consistently cutting edge and modern while still maintaining the warm Hackley presence we all know and love. His tenure at Hackley has certainly left an imprint, if not just physical, but intellectual and emotional as well, as Assistant Headmaster Phil Variano noted, “his legacies are very broad.”  So all of this then begs the question: who really is Mr. Johnson? Who is this figure responsible for all we see and observe around us?

Following Mr. Johnson’s journey in teaching is intrinsic in understanding his true value and talents as Hackley’s headmaster. Before Mr. Johnson ever became the leader on campus as he is today, he planted his roots in education a bit more humbly, at a summer camp counselor as a teenager.

“This job was my first exposure to the fact that teaching was really hard,” said Mr. Johnson, “I thought that it was a great job because I could work in the mornings and then go and play tennis in the afternoons. But then, by the time I finished my first day, I was so exhausted that I had no energy to play tennis.”

This experience made Mr. Johnson realize that teaching was a profession that would both require diligent work and engender respect. He then went on to graduate summa cum laude with a degree in English from Amherst College, and served as a teaching fellow at the University of Pennsylvania while obtaining his Masters degree.

After college, Mr. Johnson served as Associate Director & Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the Rosenbach Museum and Library, before finally settling into his first teaching position as an English teacher at the Trinity School in New York City in 1984. He worked there for five years, until he accepted the position as Upper School Director at the Collegiate School, also in New York City, in 1993.

Mr. Johnson then traveled overseas in 1994 for a one year stint as the Principal of the High School at The American School in London. After this international job Mr. Johnson, found himself up on the Hilltop, stepping into his role in the Hackley campus in September of 1995.

It was this relationship that seemed to fit the best. Mr. Johnson quickly picked up the flow of Hackley life, serving as a teacher, friend, and mentor to many, while also catching Hackley up with the rapidly modernizing times of the late 1990s. By the year 2000, Mr. Johnson had installed a director of technology, two full-time psychologists, a director of enrollment management, a registrar, and brought needed updates to the Hackley computer labs. The Hackley website and automated library soon followed.

One thing came to be abundantly clear: Mr. Johnson was here for the long haul. He brought technology to the forefront of Hackley’s campus as a means to “enable the school to be more completely itself.”

“These new advances strengthen already concrete Hackley values and give them more opportunities to express themselves. Hackley has become stronger in part because it is now more ‘Hackley-ish,’” said Mr. Johnson. He created a smooth system where technology became an aspect of guidance and assistance in the classroom, but not an overwhelming presence.

These internal changes Mr. Johnson brought were soon followed by a series of physical changes as well. Mr. Johnson has overseen the construction of a new Lower School, Middle School, and parts of the Upper School, all in an effort to preserve the beauty and prestige of the Hackley campus while providing students and teachers with the best means possible to succeed.

“In the position of headmaster, I’ve had the ability to both witness and foster the success of others, which has certainly been one of the most valuable aspects of being headmaster,” said Mr. Johnson, “My job is to preserve and shape the values that are so intrinsic to this community.”

His peers hold him in high regard for his calm and intelligent leading presence. His actions to more than double Hackley in size have “changed the face of Hackley athletics in the same way that other buildings changed the look of the school and the comfort of its students,” said longtime colleague and Mr. Variano. Both Mr. Johnson and Mr. Variano have been at the forefront for the upcoming project to supplement these new athletic facilities with a new health and wellness center – “the final piece of the puzzle”, as Mr. Variano calls it.

Some of Mr. Johnson’s other initiatives were to increase faculty compensation so better teachers would be attracted to Hackley and willing to stay, and strengthening the alumni network. “The teaching is the heart of the school,” said Mr. Variano, and Mr. Johnson knew that. Having both a great faculty and a strong alumni network was essential to Hackley’s foundation. Mr. Johnson succeeded in creating that strong foundation by increasing salaries for teachers, causing them to stay at Hackley, rather than going to other schools or pursuing other careers, and building upon our alumni network.

Mr. Johnson emphasizes efficiency and productivity, as his vast accomplishments over his twenty year tenure can attest to. “He always says that he’s a process person,” said Mr. Variano. When matters of construction and other implementations to the Hackley community need to be discussed, Mr. Johnson develops numerous committees and has meetings where he encourages open communication that allows for people to come to “a common understanding of what our goals are” said Mr. Variano. Whether it be a committee for dress code or constriction, maintaining a good flow of open communication in meetings “good for morale”, said Mr. Variano.

Mr. Johnson is always working hard, and “has a meeting almost every night of the week whether, it’s… with a potential donor or one of the many committees we have. He can be overwhelmed at times and busy, but to tell you the truth he handles it very, very well,” said Mr. Variano. Even in these stressful times where Mr. Johnson would have a meeting almost every night, he was still able to joke in their interoffice mail about the things going on. “He’s underratedly funny”, said junior and advisee Meghan O’Keefe.