Serving as our Head of School since 2012, Dagan is in his third decade as an educator and is committed to creating engaging school environments for students and teachers. Dagan originally came to Seven Hills as a Language Arts teacher in 2010 following a successful and fulfilling 10 years at Appomattox Regional Governor’s School (ARGS) where he taught English and World History, led courses in the Literary Arts program, and served as the Boys Varsity Basketball and Tennis head coach. Having taught many Seven Hills alumni at ARGS, Dagan was continually impressed by the written, verbal, interpersonal and critical thinking skills they possessed. After teaching for only a short time at Seven Hills, it became clear to him that making learning meaningful and joyous for middle school boys was his professional calling. With an obvious and contagious passion for providing the best possible educational experience for middle school boys, Dagan takes every opportunity to advance the concepts of listening to, and understanding, middle schools boys in order to motivate them toward success as learners and people. In recent years, Dagan has been sought after and recognized for his knowledge of middle school boys as well as instructional and programmatic innovations designed with them in mind. Dagan has lectured to students attending Mary Baldwin College’s “Thoughtful Assessment” graduate course, and in the Urban Education Fellow Program at the University of Richmond on the topic of single gender education. He was named to Style Weekly’s “Top 40 Under 40” list in 2017, and in 2020 was selected as a panelist for the Steelcase-sponsored discussion of “Navigating What’s Next: Education in a Post-COVID World.” Dagan relishes the opportunity to learn from other schools and school heads, and has immersed himself in the Virginia Association of Independent Schools (VAIS) community. He regularly leads visiting accreditation teams across the state, serves on the VAIS Member Services Committee and Sally K. Boese Award Committee, and currently holds the role of Chair for VAIS’s Richmond Regional Heads of School group as well as for the Planning Committee for the annual Heads of School Conference. A Petersburg native, Dagan attended Wingate University in North Carolina where he earned a B.A. in English while playing on the Bulldogs’ varsity tennis team, serving as Student Body President, and completing the school’s Leadership Development program. He also studied in the Master’s Program in Educational Administration and Supervision at Virginia State University, and earned an additional teaching certificate in Gifted Education. Dagan moved into the role of Head of the Upper Program at Seven Hills in 2011 and also became director of the school’s athletic program. A year later he accepted the role of interim Head of School while a broad-based committee conducted a national search for the school’s new leader. More than 30 qualified candidates were interviewed, yet ultimately the committee chose Dagan to fill the challenging role in December of 2012. In addition to his work as Head of School, Dagan enjoys coaching the Seven Hills basketball Gold Team, playing tennis, and spending time with his wife and two children at their Colonial Heights home.