Founding Director, The Equity Exchange
Director, Community & Equity Leadership Center
John Burroughs School

Daniel M. Harris

Dr. Harris is the founding director of The Equity Exchange, where he consults and coaches schools and organizations seeking to strengthen intercultural capacity, equity, inclusivity, leadership, and organizational culture.

He is a co-creator of the Inclusivity Index, a K-12 survey that helps schools better understand students' experiences of culture, climate, identity, and belonging. He is also a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®), offering individual, group, and organizational intercultural coaching, and is certified to deliver the Intercultural Conflict Style® (ICS®) assessment.

He is in his 31st year at John Burroughs School, where he directs the Community & Equity Leadership Center. He serves on the Advisory Council for The School at Columbia University and the Advisory Board for Teaching While White. His earlier leadership includes serving as a trustee at Community School, helping found the Independent Schools of the Central States (ISACS) Equity Committee, and participating in the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Call to Action advisory think tank. He contributed a chapter to the NAIS publication Diversity Work in Independent Schools: The Practice and the Practitioner.

His commitment to community extends well beyond school walls. For over a decade, he served as a site director for Aim High St. Louis, a tuition-free enrichment program for middle school students. He has also facilitated workshops for educators and community members across the St. Louis region and nation, including "Understanding Prejudice and Race" and "Building Partnerships to Overcome Racism" through Rita Starr's Healing Our Nation network.

Dr. Harris holds an Ed.D. in educational leadership and policy analysis and an M.Ed. in educational, school, and counseling psychology. Each spring, you'll find him coaching track & field, where he has been named Missouri Coach of the Year five times by the MTCCCA and once each by the USTFCCCA, MOCA, and NFHS. In 2018, the NFHS also named him Midsection Coach of the Year, a multistate honor. Under his leadership, the program has won four team state championships and eight additional top-four state finishes.