ATLIS Announces 2023 Pillar Award Recipients

Antupit, Davis, Kahn, and Levin recognized with association’s top honor

The Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools (ATLIS), the only professional association for independent school technology directors, announced today the recognition of four highly accomplished professionals as 2023 ATLIS Pillar Award winners:

• Peter Antupit, Chief Information Officer, Crystal Springs Uplands School
• Howard Levin, Director of Educational Innovation, Convent & Stuart Hall Schools of the Sacred Heart
• Susan Davis, retired educator and professional development director at ATLIS
• Larry Kahn, retired technology director 

Established in 2018, the ATLIS Pillar Award program was initiated to bring attention to those often unsung heroes who exemplify the ATLIS mission—to empower schools to thrive through technology leadership. This year’s winners have contributed significantly to the independent school industry over the years through their thought leadership, volunteerism, mentorship, and support of the ATLIS community. The body of work contributed by each winner has made a significant impact on ATLIS and the entire community of technology leaders in independent schools. Collectively, their contributions have transformed the industry. 

“The Pillar Awards are meaningful to the ATLIS community because they give us an opportunity to honor the contributions that have made our association and our industry what it is today,” said Denise Musselwhite, ATLIS Board Chair and founder of Tech & Thrive, a leadership consulting firm. “Each of these winners has left a noticeable impact in our world, contributing selflessly to ATLIS’s continued growth and success. We are grateful for the opportunity to recognize them in this manner.”

About the honorees:

Peter Antupit

Peter Antupit is an experienced educator who began his career at The Landmark School, a residential school for dyslexic students located in Manchester, Massachusetts. During his seven-year tenure at Landmark, Antupit taught math, language arts, woodshop, and computer science. With a deep passion for the end user’s experience, he pursued an Ed.M. from The Harvard Graduate School of Education, with a concentration in Technology in Education (TIE).

After completing his graduate studies, Antupit became the director of technology at Nashoba Brooks School in Concord, Massachusetts, where he served for 15 years as a mentor and leader to students, faculty, and staff. In 2012, he moved to California to join the team at Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, California, where he started as the director of technology and was later promoted to CIO. In his current role, Antupit continues his focus on simplifying and streamlining the technology experience for faculty, administrative staff, students, and families.

In addition to his work at Crystal Springs Uplands School, Antupit has been a faculty member of the ATLIS Leadership Institute (formerly known as ECATD) program since its inception in 2016. Through this program, he shares his experience and expertise with a focus on relationship building, independent school structures, and technological systems.

Howard Levin

Howard Levin has spent more than two decades working as a technology leader in independent schools. In 2011, he transitioned into the newly defined role of director of educational innovation, leading tech-related strategic initiatives at Convent & Stuart Hall Schools of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco, a complex K-12, multi-campus independent school in the heart of San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood. Previously, he spent 12 years as director of technology at the Urban School of San Francisco, a school on the cutting edge of curriculum innovation that spans far beyond technology, about which he has written extensively. 

In addition to educational technology leadership, Levin has helped lead rethinking and renovating learning spaces, working with leading architects and designers to transform classrooms, libraries, and other spaces into learning studios that support and extend collaboration for all.

Susan Davis

For nearly four decades, Susan Davis devoted her professional life to improving opportunities for learning for both children and adults. With a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of South Carolina and a Master’s in Creative Writing from George Mason University, she served as a school administrator, taught students from fifth grade through grad school, designed leadership and teacher professional development programs, and blogged about the challenges of creating a technology-rich classroom for Getting Smart.

In 2017, she left the classroom and became the second employee at the Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools, ATLIS, where she served as its professional development director until her retirement in 2022. If you have participated in an ATLIS Town Hall, taken part in the ATLIS Leadership Institute, or used the ATLIS360 guidelines and manual, your professional life has been touched by her work. She is proudest of the role she played in supporting technology leaders through the tough times of the pandemic shut-down, of designing a curriculum for the ATLIS Undaunted 2021 Retreat to ease the transition into a post-pandemic era of education, and of conceiving of “The 4th Teacher,” based on conversations in the ATLIS community, as a way to describe technology’s pervasive role in education today.

Davis and her husband, Larry Kahn, are now exploring all the creative possibilities of retirement in their new home in northern Alabama.

Larry Kahn

Larry Kahn believes passionately in creating conditions at schools where students can have innovative learning experiences. Kahn’s interest in technology evolved from teaching himself to code computer games on a Commodore Vic 20. From 1982 through 1999, He worked in private industry – coding, leading projects, and managing a data center for a wholly-owned subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company. In 1999, Kahn returned to education to lead technology programs at small and large schools, single-sex and co-ed schools, boarding and day schools. He is known as a fixer for his ability to improve struggling technology programs and help them thrive.

An active speaker on the edtech circuit, Kahn also served on the NAIS Innovation Task Force and as a mentor for the ATLIS Leadership Institute. In 2018, Kahn received ISTE’s Independent School’s Educators Network Outstanding Educator Award.

Kahn’s unique mix of strong interpersonal skills and deep knowledge of educational technology, operational technology, and information technology have served him well throughout his career of service to independent schools. While Kahn has retired from full-time school technology leadership, he continues to work as a senior collaborator with Educational Collaborators.

For more information and to learn more about previous Pillar Award winners, visit the Pillar Award page.

About ATLIS

The Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools (ATLIS) is a growing association of nearly 300 independent schools dedicated to empowering schools to thrive through technology leadership. Founded in 2014 to address the unique challenges of independent school technology directors, the organization has now expanded to support all aspects of technology at schools, ensuring that they are equipped for the future. Across all dimensions of its practice, ATLIS is also dedicated to creating a diverse and inclusive association. Learn more at theATLIS.org.