Our Purpose & Vision
Founded in 2015, Millennium School and Millennium Institute together constitute Millennium.org, a 501c3 nonprofit organization reimagining how to better prepare educators and their students to flourish in the world they’re inheriting.
Our Theory of Change is simple: If you want kids to thrive, you need thriving adults to teach them. We hope you join our mission to implement innovative methods of education that authentically connect school leaders and communities to their purpose and each other.
Our Story
Millennium School opened its doors in the Fall of 2016. Grounded in the science of adolescent development, it applies action research to provide innovative methods of whole-self education for 100+ middle school students a year.
Millennium Institute was created to share these methods with others. Our belief is that while curriculum, pedagogy, systems and policies are important, they pale in comparison to the role of the adult educator in the room… mirroring, modeling, and mentoring their students. You can learn online, but development is personal.
The heart of our development model is a framework we call the Millennium Way. This framework distills decades of research in developmental science to simplify the core capacities critical to cultivating a more authentic level of consciousness. While we constantly acquire new knowledge and skills, it is the mindset that we apply to that learning that shapes our awareness, relationships, beliefs, and actions throughout our lives.., so we start there.
Over the last 10 years Millennium has translated this research into a year-long fellowship for school leaders and a proprietary peer coaching methodology we call Forum. Together they provide a way for adults to explore how to bring their greatest leadership potential into their school communities.
Purpose
To ignite authentic connection
Vision
All Schools Empower Students for a Life of Well-Being
Mission
Design and Share Innovative Methods of Education that Advance Well-Being
Values
Authenticity, Awareness, Compassion, Wisdom and Purpose
Aspiration
To be a Leading Resource for Whole Self Education
The Millennium Way
Our BE-FEEL-THINK-DO framework unlocks human potential and cultivates well-being through whole-self integration across four key domains:
- Awareness: Developing attention, self-knowledge, and a sense of interconnection
- Compassion: Cultivating empathy, deep listening, and authentic connection
- Wisdom: Building discernment, multiple perspective-taking, and integrative thinking
- Purpose: Creating meaning, alignment, and intentional action that serves all
This integrated framework seeks to develop the whole person, creating sustainable transformation that traditional content-based instructional methods cannot achieve. When implemented consistently across an educational ecosystem, the entire culture shifts to working and learning together from a pro-social worldview by asking: How do we all thrive?
Our Team
Our team consists of experienced educators, researchers, and partners who embody the practices we teach. We bring diverse perspectives united by a shared commitment to advancing well-being in education.
- Jeff Snipes, Board Chair & Founder
- Katherine Dinh, Fellowship Leader
- Russell Shaw, Fellowship Leader
- Jim Best, TLN Roundtable Facilitator & Coach
- Bernie Noe, TLN Roundtable Facilitator & Coach
- Lizzie Rogal, Head of Millennium School
- Newton Martin, Director of Operations
- Jessica Eicher, Director of Enrollment & Marketing
- Kate Moriarty, Director of Action Research
- Stephanie Kinkel, Director of Academic Architecture
- Cyndi Miracle, Institute Coordinator
Board & Advisors
Katherine Dinh*
Previously Head of School at Marin Country Day School, Prospect Sierra School, and Board Chair of NAIS, M.Ed, Harvard GSE, Executive Coach Certification, Berkeley ECI.
Rick Hanson
Founder, Global Compassion Coalition; Founder, Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience & Contemplative Wisdom; Psychologist & Neuroscientist; NYT Best-selling Author (“Buddha’s Brain”); Senior Fellow, UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center.
Madeline Levine
Co-Founder, Challenge Success, Stanford GSE; NYT Bestselling Author of “The Price of Privilege", American Psychologist, child development, adolescents, and parenting, MA, PhD.
Xiaoan Li
Sr. Program Officer, Director of Spiritual Education, The Fetzer Institute. Board, Transformative Educational Leadership; Past Associate Professor, Indiana University; PhD in Higher Education & Organizational Change, UCLA.
Rhonda Magee
Professor, Emeritus and founding Director of the Center for Contemplative Law and Ethics at the University of San Francisco, Author, “Inner Work of Racial Justice”.
Evan Marwell*
Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, Ignite! Reading; Founder & CEO, Education Superhighway; previously Founder of Shaka Capital, Partner of Criterion Capital Management, and Board Chair of Burke’s School; MBA, Harvard Business School.
Lisa Miller
Columbia University, Teachers College, Professor of Psychology & Education; Founder of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute & the Collaborative for Spirituality in Education; NYT Best-Selling Author; PhD. Pennsylvania University.
Denise Pope
Stanford University Graduate School of Education (GSE), Sr Lecturer in Emergent Curriculum Design; Co-Founder, Challenge Success; PhD, Stanford; M.Ed, Harvard.
Jeff Snipes*
Founder & Chairman of Millennium.org; previously CEO of Ninth House, Co-Founder & Executive Board of PDI Ninth House; Investor in various HRTech & EdTech companies and non-profit organizations related to education, connection and well-being.
Meena Srinivasan
Founding Executive Director, Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL); CEO, Karuna Consulting, LLC; Contemplative leader, speaker and author (“Teach, Breathe, Learn”); Mindfulness & SEL speaker (TEDx), teacher, consultant and author.
Jenny Wade*
Principal Researcher & Professor of Integral & Transpersonal Psychology, CIIS Graduate School; Author, Consultant, Editor, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies.
James Willcox*
Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Greenhouse E3; previously Co-Founder & CEO of Strategic Growth Partners, CEO of Aspire Public Schools, Co-Founder & COO of Education for Change Public Schools, Principal at NewSchools Ventures. M.Ed, MBA, Stanford.
* Board of Trustees
Our Ecosystem
Millennium.org is a 501c3 non-profit organization with two operating divisions:
Millennium Institute
Develops and shares transformative education methods with education leaders and schools across the U.S. and around the world.
Millennium School
Our laboratory middle school in San Francisco where we innovate and refine our approaches through action research with students, educators, and parents.
PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
Strategic collaborations that expand our impact:
TheLeaderNetwork partners with leaders, teams, and boards ready to shape what’s next in independent education, through executive coaching, roundtables, customized team and board workshops, leadership growth assessments and strategic planning.
Millennium is proud to partner with TheLeaderNetwork to certify their coaches and license Millennium’s signature Forum peer-coaching methods and platform to over one hundred education leaders around the U.S..
Challenge Success is a non-profit organization affiliated with the Stanford University Graduate School of Education. Challenge Success partners with school communities to elevate student voice and implement research-based, equity-centered strategies that improve well-being, engagement, and belonging for all K-12 students. Supporting youth mental health and academic achievement is more important than ever before.
Millennium is proud to partner with Challenge Success to create research-based assessments, innovation roadmaps, and professional development opportunities for schools to improve the well-being of their communities.
millennium voices
Our collaborative storytelling platform shares research, case studies, and perspectives from our community of practice. Subscribe to join our growing community of educators committed to authentic connection and well-being.
