After three years of attending Westridge events with disposable sticker name tags and jokes about his lack of a title, Head of School Ms. Andrea Kassar’s husband, Mr. Tim McKenna recently received an official title (and a name tag): the First Husband of Westridge. “It’s definitely in the spirit of fun,” he said.

Before receiving his new title or even moving to Pasadena, Mr. McKenna lived in a small town called Augusta, Maine where he grew up and lived until after high school. Mr. McKenna grew up with his younger sister and two parents, describing his childhood as “pretty unremarkable. [I was] just a regular kid.” Besides raising him, Mr. McKenna’s parents showed him how to be an adult and a good dad to his own three children (including alumna Lucy McKenna ’25). “[My children] seem to be…good people. I think I take some pride in that,” said Mr. McKenna.

After high school, Mr. McKenna attended the University of Chicago and majored in economics. In Chicago, Mr. McKenna and Ms. Kassar met. “We sort of grew up together,” he said. After graduating college, Mr. McKenna started working at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Later, when he moved to New York, he worked for a company called NERA (National Economic Research Associates) Economic Consulting where he has worked for the past 20 years. At NERA, Mr. McKenna works as an expert witness in court cases – differing from his start with the company where he worked only with data and data analysis. 

As an expert witness, Mr. McKenna mostly works on his computer and Zoom calls, talking about the case he’s working on, structuring his arguments, and analyzing and writing expert reports. Despite the tedium of working from home, Mr. McKenna finds that his work is constantly changing. “A new case is always interesting, so that keeps it fresh,” he said.

However, a much larger change happened in 2022, when Mr. McKenna moved from New York to Los Angeles for Ms. Kassar’s first year at Westridge. “It’s obviously a big shift, but it’s been really enjoyable,” said Mr. McKenna. In Pasadena, Mr. McKenna works East Coast hours from home, starting his work day at 6:30 am. “We were very familiar with how New York worked after 20 years of living there. It’s been a great change to see a whole different way of living. And, Southern California is pretty pleasant,” he continued. 

In Pasadena, Mr. McKenna and Ms. Kassar moved into the Merwin house next door to Westridge. “I’m very close to [Ms. Kassar’s] work environment, but when I’m actually at things that she’s doing for work, it’s great seeing her in that leadership role,” said Mr. McKenna. “It’s very interesting seeing how she handles difficult conversations… it really is sort of inspiring.”

From moving across the country to starting a family together, Mr. McKenna concluded, “It’s hard to think of a facet of my life that hasn’t been influenced by [Ms. Kassar].”