With extensive experience working in advancement at institutions ranging from college preparatory schools to a noted arts program, Emily A. Kasof – the new president of The Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington, Maryland – is leading an all-girls Catholic high school noted for both things.
In a recent interview, Kasof said, “For me, I feel like this position is a culmination of my interests, my beliefs and my profession, where it’s all coming together for me.”
The lifelong Catholic and native New Yorker who worked for more than 25 years in Manhattan, most recently served as the chief advancement officer for The Madeira School, an all-girls high school in McLean, Virginia, leading fundraising and strategic partnership efforts.
After earning a master of arts degree in Medieval and Renaissance studies from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Buffalo in New York, Kasof worked in advancement and in leadership roles at several institutions, including the New York City Ballet, the New York Public Library, Columbia University and the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, which has pre-K to grade 12 campuses in Manhattan and the Bronx.
Kasof also worked for 13 years in the advancement office at The Dalton School, a coeducational, college preparatory school in New York City, where she led initiatives for a $100 million capital campaign and a $5 million annual fund.
“I think because I worked for organizations that have been well resourced with high endowments, I’ve been able to see behind the curtain about how operations run. I’m able to take what I’ve learned from these organizations about operations and bring it here,” Kasof said, noting that building community and fundraising have been key aspects of her previous jobs. “When you look at Catholic schools and where we are, I feel that these are experiences that I can bring, with ways to share with everyone what makes Holy Cross different, and why we need support.”
Reflecting on what drew her to The Academy of the Holy Cross, Kasof said, “The school really grabbed my heart.”
She praised the legacy of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, who founded the school in 1868 and continue to sponsor it, and their example of faith and leadership as they and the academy’s lay teachers have provided a Catholic education to generations of young women in the Washington, D.C., area.
Kasof said she also knows the value of Catholic education from her husband, Brendan Kearns, an attorney who earned his undergraduate and law degree from St. John’s University in New York, and from their daughter Simone, who attended Catholic elementary and high school and now is studying journalism at Loyola University in Baltimore. Kasof said her own parish religious education gave her a “Catholic lens” that she has applied to her life and work over the years.
“So now I’m at a place where that is the foundation of what we’re teaching students. At the end of the day, we’re all here to love one another,” she said.
Kasof said that from her family’s experience, she has found Catholic education to be “such a positive way to navigate the world, and I wanted to be a part of that.”
Another thing that drew her to The Academy of the Holy Cross was that it is an all-girls school, she said.
“Madeira was the first school that I worked for that was all-girls, and I was able to see what young women were able to do when they were together and they could stretch themselves and feel comfortable in being leaders, and I knew that working in an all-girls (school) was for me,” Kasof said.
In a statement after it was announced that Kasof had been named as the new president of The Academy of the Holy Cross, she said, “I am honored to lead a school that equally values academic excellence, compassion and diversity. The Academy of the Holy Cross is needed today more than ever before. Together we will build on the incredible work of so many others. Together we will empower girls to make the world a better place.”
The website for The Academy of the Holy Cross notes that the school offers Advanced Placement classes, an honors program, a dual enrollment in partnership with Marymount University, and an engineering course called Project Lead the Way. Students participate in 60 hours of internships through the Senior Project program with top employers in the greater Washington metropolitan area. Holy Cross students participate in eight musical, dramatic and dance productions each year, and this past year, they completed more than 8,000 community service hours. The academy’s students earned more than $22 million in college scholarships last year, and since 2016, 65 athletes from Holy Cross have gone on to compete in NCAA sports at their colleges and universities.
Since beginning her work as the president of The Academy of the Holy Cross on July 1, 2024, Kasof has had one-on-one meetings with teachers, staff members, students and graduates to gain their insights on what they love about the school and their advice for her first year.
Asked what she has learned from speaking with the Ladies of the Academy, as the school’s graduates and students are known, Kasof said, “There’s a sense of pride in being a member of the academy, not only with the school itself, but in athletics, in the arts, in different opportunities that students have here. There is so much pride, there’s so much excitement, and that makes me feel really good. Our alums, they’re looking for a way to reconnect, and they’re looking for a pathway to do that, so I’m excited about building that bridge, and making sure alums know this is always their home.”
A key goal for Kasof’s first year will be overseeing the construction of the academy’s new Athletic and Wellness Center, a state-of-the-art facility that will feature seating for 500 people and include basketball and volleyball courts and practice courts. In addition to hosting athletic competitions, the center will also be a space for community gatherings, school assemblies, pep rallies, dances, clubs and other activities.
Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory will celebrate a Mass for the Feast of the Holy Cross at the academy on Sept. 13 and participate in the groundbreaking for the Athletic and Wellness Center.
Kasof said her top goal for this year is “building community and making sure that everyone in the building and outside the building feels a connection to Holy Cross.” She said that in her discussions with the community, some people have described the academy as a hidden gem.
“I don’t want us to be hidden. I want the world to see what a Catholic education, an all-girls education and really our academics, arts and athletics, can do for students,” Kasof said. “We’re graduating amazing human beings, and not every school can say that. I don’t want that to be hidden. I want the world to know those things about us.”
As the president of The Academy of the Holy Cross, Kasof succeeds Katy Prebble, who retired after leading the academy from July 2013 to June 2024. During Prebble’s leadership there, two capital campaigns were launched at Holy Cross, its program of studies was expanded and student support services were enhanced. This past spring, the Catholic Coalition for Special Education presented its first Lifetime Achievement Making IT Happen Award to Katy Prebble, noting that the academy’s Moreau Options inclusive education program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities is “a model for schools around the country.”
Kasof said the first group of Holy Cross students who invited her to lunch this summer were girls in the Moreau Options camp, who made pizza for her. “I just had the best time,” she said, noting how academy graduates have told her how much it meant to them to learn alongside classmates with disabilities and become friends with them. “Everyone is together,” she said.
The outside interests of the new president of The Academy of the Holy Cross include her two rescue dogs, going on walks and hiking, exercising with kick boxing and mixed martial arts, and different genres of music, including rock music, heavy metal, classical, jazz and gospel music.
