Bio

Kusserow Consulting was launched in 2020 as a direct response to the Covid-19 global pandemic and its disruption to children, parents, schools, and businesses.

Little did we know that two years later, we would still be confronting similar challenges. How we – as individuals – choose to confront these challenges is completely up to us. While the challenges facing us are not trivial, they also represent tremendous opportunities to re-think, re-tool, and re-prioritize how we learn and what is worth learning.

During his tenure as Head of School, Tim guided Carlthorp to become one of the most respected and sought-after elementary schools in Los Angeles. In that role he oversaw a highly competitive Kindergarten admissions process, launched programs that embraced the elements of “experiential learning,” promoted the virtues of kindness and gratitude, and helped to place over 98% of 6th grade graduates into their first-choice secondary school.

Tim inherited his passion for teaching from both his father, Tebb, a legendary high school football coach for decades at Santa Monica High School, and his mother, Jeannie, a beloved Kindergarten teacher at Roosevelt Elementary School, also in Santa Monica.

In 2020, Tim composed a Leadership Team consisting of key personnel to guide the school community through the COVID pandemic. In a 72-hour span, Carlthorp School pivoted from classroom-based instruction to a “distance learning” format and became one of the first schools in the country to immediately implement a digital platform that enabled all students to access the academic curriculum. It is this type of innovation – grounded in a clear vision, strategic planning, and the “grit” necessary to take an idea and follow it through to its completion – that forms the foundation of Kusserow Consulting.

Managing an annual operating budget of $11m and consistently being on target with positive cash flow, Tim also raised over $1.7m for the Annual Fund, which was the highest amount raised in the school's history. And, significantly, Tim achieved a new record high for the Annual Fund over three consecutive years. He led the Scholarship Benefit raising over $575,000 for tuition assistance. Tim also grew the school's endowment from $25m to $33m over a four-year period.

With over fifteen years of experience as a school administrator, Tim has firsthand experience leading communities through “crisis management.” 

Tim graduated from the University of Notre Dame (1996) and has a Master’s in Public Policy (2000) from UC Berkeley where he focused on education policy. He served as the Senior Education Advisor to Mayor Richard Riordan (City of Los Angeles) working closely with Los Angeles’s “Education Mayor” to reduce class size, open new school sites, expand the after-school program network, and increase teacher pay. Tim also worked for nine years as a teacher, Literacy Coach, and Assistant Principal in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). 

A third generation resident of Santa Monica, Tim enjoys spending time with his two children and sharing his passion for reading, bodysurfing in the ocean, and empowering others to live life to its fullest.