Our Team

Eric Roland is the Precourt Director of Partnerships for the Tang Institute, as well as the Interim Director. In addition to his work with the Institute and external engagement work on behalf of the Academy, Roland leads the school’s Career Development Program and helps design and develop global and experiential education programming. Prior to joining the Institute, he served as associate director of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders community and participated in the Forum’s Global Leadership Fellows program. Previously, he worked with the Inter-American Development Bank as a social sector research fellow.

Roland served as a teacher of religion at Notre Dame Catholic High School (Fairfield, Conn.), evaluated a Central American civic education program with the Academy for Educational Development, and worked on innovative federal government projects as a consultant with Accenture. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he carried out research on regional economic integration and education policy in South America. Roland earned a bachelor’s degree in international studies from Fairfield University and a master’s degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Ryan Clinesmith joined Phillips Academy in 2023 as a project coordinator at the Tang Institute. Before joining the Institute, Clinesmith was the assistant head of school, co-director of the Lower School, and poet and writer in residence at an independent school in New York City where he founded the Global Poetry Consortium. In 2024, Clinesmith will complete his Ed.M. in education leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

At HGSE, Ryan worked for the HarvardEd Portal leading undergraduates in after school lessons at the Gardner Pilot Academy. At Making Caring Common, also at HGSE, he drove analytics, marketing, and partnerships for the non-profit’s School Based Initiatives. Ryan was also the administrative editor in chief at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s student run publication The Appian Way. His education-related publication credits include the “CultureRX Field Guide” and HundrED’s “Implement at Scale: An Agenda for Education Innovation Implementation Research.”

As a poet, Ryan’s manuscript Epilogue to Paradise was a finalist for the Letras Latinas-ILS/ND- Andres Montoya Poetry Prize and long-listed for the C&R Press 2022 Award. His poems can be found online and in print. Ryan has eleven years of English teaching experience, using his artistic practice and teacher training to lead interdisciplinary and multimodal initiatives throughout New York and Massachusetts. Within schools, Ryan is an advocate for student’s self-direction as a matter of meaning, purpose, and wellbeing.

Kristin Bair O'Keeffe, a seasoned communications professional, joined Phillips Academy in 2012. In her early years, as the editor of Andover’s alumni magazine, Bair O'Keeffe not only shaped the publication’s content but also led a dedicated team of writers and graphic designers, orchestrating their talents to create a cohesive and engaging narrative.

Since 2018, Bair O'Keeffe has deftly balanced her time between two essential realms: the advancement team and the Tang Institute. For advancement, she skillfully crafts and conveys the Academy's philanthropic initiatives for the Outreach programs, the Addison Gallery of American Art, and the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology. At the Tang Institute, she contributes to the advancement of innovative education messaging, highlighting her passion for pioneering educational approaches. Bair O’Keeffe is also a novelist, speaker, and writing instructor with the Yale Writers Workshop.

Committed to innovation in education, Dianne began her career with the Schools Division of the British Broadcasting Corporation. She later worked at Cambridge-based BBN as that R&D institution began partnering with schools pioneering the use of Internet resources in classrooms. A highlight of Dianne’s career was her work at Esperanza Academy, where she designed a first-of-its-kind computer-based STEM course and had the privilege of teaching girls in grades 5–8.

Dianne has served in various support roles at Phillips Academy, including in the Office of the Dean of Faculty, Department of Mathematics, Statistics & Computer Science, Summer Session Outreach, Office of the Chaplaincy, and the Brace Center for Gender Studies. Her eagerness to plan, organize, and problem solve, together with institutional knowledge and connections, make her a valuable resource to the Tang Institute.