Engel '73 Takes Helm as Board Chair, Pantazis Honored for Service

Indian Springs School is delighted to announce that alumnus and alumnae parent Alan Engel ’73, P ’03, ’12 has begun a three-year term as Chairman of the Indian Springs School Board of Governors. Engel, whose appointment began on May 4 at the Board’s 2018 Annual General Meeting, succeeds Libby Pantazis P ’03, ’06, ’09, who joined the Board in 2001 and has served as Chairman since 2012.
 
Engel is President of Crowne Partners, a Birmingham-based firm that specializes in the management and development of commercial and residential real estate. He holds an M.B.A. in Finance from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He received his B.S. in Business Administration in 1977 from the University of Colorado Boulder. Active in Alabama’s business and civic communities, he serves on the Board of Directors of First Commercial Bank of Birmingham and is actively involved in various civic and religious organizations.
 
An active alum, Engel served on the Indian Springs School Alumni Council from 1988 to 1992. Two of his three daughters, Andrea and Ilana, graduated from the school in 2003 and 2012, respectively. He joined the Indian Springs School Board of Governors in 2006. During his Board tenure, he has chaired the Finance Committee and has served on the Executive Committee; Development Committee; Investment Subcommittee; and Campaign Subcommittee. From 2012 to 2018, he and his wife, Lisa, served with Rusty Rushton ’74 as Co-Chairs of Springs Eternal, the largest capital campaign in Indian Springs School history, which made possible three new state-of-the-art, Silver LEED-certified classroom buildings, the Armstrong Administration building, and the newly renovated Kayser Academic Center, as well as important campus infrastructure improvements.
 
“When I first set foot on this campus 49 years ago in August, I never would have guessed that I would one day be sitting at this table,” Engel said at the May 4 Annual General Meeting. “I greatly appreciate the trust and confidence you have shown me, and I promise to be diligent, forthright, honest, transparent, and open to your concerns.”
 
Engel honored Pantazis for her contributions to the school: “I have big shoes to fill—actually, I have big yellow glasses to fill,” he told her, quoting fellow Board member Robert Aland and donning yellow-framed glasses in a nod to her signature color. “Thank you for all that you have done in the service of this special place.”
 
The Board of Governors unanimously adopted a resolution of appreciation thanking Pantazis for her “years of loyal and passionate service to Indian Springs School and to the students who have thrived and will thrive as a result of her efforts.”
 
The resolution saluted Pantazis for being “tireless in giving her time, her talent, and her resources to Indian Springs School,” citing her active roles on the Board’s Finance Committee, as Honorary Co-Chair of the Campaign Subcommittee, and as past Chair of the Planning Committee, as well as her help in guiding strategic planning, capital improvement initiatives, leadership transition, and good financial stewardship.
 
Head of School Dr. Sharon Howell announced that Indian Springs will honor Pantazis by establishing the Libby Pantazis Award for Service to Indian Springs. “This award will be given to that senior student who best exemplifies Libby’s combination of dedication, joy, and passion in service to this school, and will be a framed certificate,” said Howell. “The faculty will choose one senior to be awarded the honor each year.”
 
In addition, said Howell, artist and young alum William Rushton ’11 will create a pastel portrait of Pantazis to be displayed at the school, and the doors of all Indian Springs School faculty homes will be painted “Libby Pantazis yellow—the yellow of sunlight and canary feathers and irises” in her honor. “Libby, we know that with this award, your portrait on the wall, and all those yellow doors cheering up the campus you will be present in spirit, but that will surely not be quite the same. We will miss you.”
 
The Board of Governors saluted three other outgoing Board members for their ongoing contributions to the Indian Springs School community: Rusty Rushton ’74, P ’09, ’11, Rob Henrikson ’65, and ex officio member Michele Reisner P '18, whose terms came to a close on May 4. In addition to his efforts as Co-Chair of the Campaign for Springs Eternal, Rushton has served two seven-year terms as an active member of the Executive Committee and the Academic Affairs Committee, which he also chaired. Henrikson, whose lead gift helped to launch the Campaign for Springs Eternal, joined the Board in 2012. He has served on the Board’s Academic Affairs Committee and Investment Subcommittee. Reisner has served as President of the Parents Association for 2017–18 and as a member of the Board’s Advancement Committee.
 
The Board also welcomed five new Board members: Gail Andrews P ’03, Emma Embry ’05, Jimmy Lewis ’75, P ’11, ’11, Lia Rushton P ’09, ’11, and incoming Parents Association President Elise Frohsin ’88, P ’20. Andrews is Director Emerita of the Birmingham Museum of Art, where she served as Director from 1996 to 2017. Embry is a Birmingham-based real estate developer. Lewis, who is President of Lewis Investment Company, previously served on the Board of Governors and as Chair of the Board’s Buildings and Grounds Subcommittee from 2009 to 2016. Rushton is an independent educational consultant with extensive college and secondary school experience both as a teacher and as an administrator. Frohsin is an attorney with Frohsin Barger & Walthall.
 
 
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190 Woodward Drive, Indian Springs, Alabama 35124
Phone: 205.988.3350
Indian Springs School, an independent school recognized nationally as a leader in boarding and day education for grades 8-12, serves a talented and diverse student body and offers admission to qualified students regardless of race, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Located in Indian Springs, Alabama, just south of Birmingham, the school does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other school-administered programs.

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