Girard College president to step down for ‘family concerns’

Autumn Adkins Graves, Girard College president and the school’s first female and African-American leader, will step down at the end of the school year.

Graves’ announcement came today as she expressed in a prepared statement that “family concerns” have made it difficult to focus her full attention on the school.

“Girard has made progress, but the financial and programmatic challenges it faces today will force us into a period of change, and Girard requires a leader who can devote all of his or her energies to that challenge, to see it through from start to finish so that Girard can grow and thrive in the years ahead,” she said.

 

Graves has been president for three years at the Philadelphia boarding school.

An interim successor will be named as a national search gets underway for a permanent leader.