Student, teacher, coach, assistant principal, and now president – Bill Myers has done it all at Benet Academy. In October 2023, the lifelong Redwing was named the new leader of the local college prep school.
Myers considers the opportunity “a dream come true.”
“It’s been great, people have been very gracious,” said Myers. “They’ve been sending emails, texts, and Facebook messages of congratulations. Some of the fun part is going on Facebook and seeing classmates that I haven’t talked to in 20 years or so wishing me the best.”
Myers brings a worldly experience back to Lisle
Myers graduated from Benet Academy in 1997. He went on to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he received his bachelor’s degree, and then master’s in education.
Myers then made a brief return to Benet, where he taught in the school’s history department for three years.
In 2006, he and his wife took a trip overseas to teach at an international school in Bangkok, Thailand. He said the experience made him “appreciative of a wider world.”
“It was my wife’s idea,” said Myers. “She has these great ideas that at first scare me, but she’s like ‘Trust me, this would be good.’ It was a great experience. Totally different culture, but it made me appreciative of a big, wider world.”
Once he returned from Thailand, Myers came back to Benet for the 2009 school year.
“It’s a special place,” said Myers. “If you walk around and you talk to different people, many of us are alums. I think it’s almost 30% of the faculty and staff are alumni who have come back to work here.”
He also took the reins of Benet’s freshman football team, a role he kept for over a decade.
“Leadership is about helping people achieve their goals,” said Myers. “We have great directors, we have great faculty, great staff, and they all want us to do things that will further the mission of the school, help us achieve our vision. As a coach, your job is to take somebody from where they are and guide them to a place they want to go. So I think there is a pretty good analogy to coaching and leadership.”
Myers shifts to the administration
Myers showed a different side of his leadership skills when he joined Benet’s administration in 2011, serving as the assistant principal for a decade.
He continued on the administrative track when he was named interim president in July 2022, after the former president Steve Marth moved to a newly-created role of Head of School. Myers eventually became president on Oct. 25.
Since assuming the role, he’s already working with the school’s board to usher in a vision called the “New Era of Excellence.”
“It deals with the development, fundraising, and with finances just to make sure Benet is sustainable for the future,” said Myers. “We want to make sure that the great gift that Benet is to the community is available to not just my kids who will be here in a couple of years, but hopefully my grandkids.”
After 30 years as a Redwing, Myers’ deep love for Benet is as strong as ever, and he looks forward to making the school proud as its president.
“The school that I love tremendously and I think I’m most excited about it because it’s a chance for me to grow the school in a way that it needs to be grown,” said Myers. “It’s a great school academically, our fine arts, our faith and service, our athletics are top-notch, but we can do more and we can connect with people.”
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