Meredith McNerney

Meredith McNerney is a cancer survivor, speaker, educator, and principal. She formerly served as the principal of a Title 1 school to nearly 900 students in Montgomery County, Maryland. Meredith owns her own professional development company, The Calmer Network, teaching organizations how to make small changes to increase psychological safety to retain employees and increase performance. As a Certified Trauma Support Specialist, she works with teams across the country to reimagine empathy at work. She believes in utilizing a compassionate approach to leadership including the balance between high accountability and high levels of support.

Meredith was born with a rare gene mutation that caused a kidney and ear deformity. She was ill most of her childhood and, at age 11, had a kidney removed. At 31, she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer, Merkel Cell Carcinoma. After surviving cancer, she founded an all-all-volunteer organization, A Message of Hope Cancer Fund. She served as the Executive Director for ten years and led her team to raise One Million dollars to provide direct financial support to families facing cancer in her local community. She is the author of the book, Facing Cancer: A Spiritual Journey from Pain to Peace.

Meredith earned a B.S. in Elementary Education from East Carolina University and completed her Master of Education as a Reading Specialist at Towson University. She recently earned her certification in Employee Wellness and Stress Management from Stanford’s Center for Health Education. She will graduate with a doctorate degree in Transformative Leadership from Northeastern University in 2024. Meredith serves as an adjunct professor at Shepherd University, where she teaches two courses on Creating a Trauma-Informed Culture and Climate.

Meredith lives in Ijamsville, Maryland, with her husband, Mark who is a middle school teacher, and two children, Danielle and Kaitlyn.