Inverness Associates is led by Paul Chapman who brings to his consulting a wealth of experience about education and how to develop good schools. During 2010-11 he is a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford and UC Berkeley schools of education and Principal in Residence at the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, where he is helping to grow greener schools.

His perspective has been shaped by a long career in education in which he served for over 25 years as Head of the Head-Royce School, a K-12 school in Oakland, CA. He also was Assistant Head and Academic Dean at San Francisco University High School and Associate Director of Admissions at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.  Raised near Chicago, Paul attended Hinsdale High School and graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in history from Yale, and an M.A. in American history and a Ph.D. in the history of education from Stanford. His book Schools as Sorters: Lewis M. Terman, Applied Psychology, and the Intelligence Testing Movement, 1890-1930 (NYU Press, 1988) continues to provide valuable historical perspective about assessment issues today.

Active in the professional education community, Paul is a member of the Country Day School Headmasters Association and the Headmasters Association and currently serves on several boards, including The National Association of Independent Schools, School Year Abroad, San Francisco Friends School, the UC Berkeley Library Advisory Board, and SAGE (Sustainable Agriculture Education) Advisory Board. He has served on the boards of The Hamlin School, San Francisco Day School, Marin Country Day School, and the California Association of Independent Schools. He has spoken often at meetings of CAIS, NAIS and local boards on topics ranging from strategic planning and sustainability to crisis management and global education.

Paul and his wife Helen have three children, and he enjoys reading, fishing, traveling, and hiking with his Golden Retriever.