The executive search team at Promise54 is honored to have led the recruiting that resulted in these recent placements
Jason Atwood
Director of Research & Learning, NewSchools Venture Fund
Craig Martin
Executive Director, Bridge Boston Charter School
Colette Owens
Executive Director, Hiawatha Academies
Roberto Rodríguez
President & Chief Executive Officer, Teach Plus
Kara Allen Soldati
Chief Executive Officer, Umoja Student Development Corporation
Amy Wilkins
Senior Vice President, Advocacy at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Jason Atwood
Director of Research & Learning, NewSchools Venture Fund
Craig Martin
Executive Director, Bridge Boston Charter School
Colette Owens
Executive Director, Hiawatha Academies
Roberto Rodríguez
President & Chief Executive Officer, Teach Plus
Kara Allen Soldati
Chief Executive Officer, Umoja Student Development Corporation
Amy Wilkins
Senior Vice President, Advocacy at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Jason Atwood
Director of Research & Learning, NewSchools Venture Fund
Jason works at the intersection of education research, practice, policy, and philanthropy to help organizations know, grow, and show their impact. As Director of Research and Learning at NewSchools Venture Fund, Jason partners with the investment team, ventures, and external researchers to build systems and enact practices that spark curiosity, support innovation, and advance evidence-based decision-making across the education sector. Before joining NewSchools, Jason was the Senior Director of Evaluation & Learning at Education Pioneers and the Managing Director of Research Partnerships at Teach For America. At TFA, he also served as the project officer for the implementation and impact studies of a $50M U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation Scale-Up Grant. Jason has also worked in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education in Washington, DC, with Envision Schools, and as the director of student life at College Track. Jason has an M.A. in education from U.C. Berkeley and double-majored in philosophy and government at Georgetown University.
Colette Owens
Executive Director, Hiawatha Academies
Colette Owens began her career as a special education teacher and held several senior positions for Teach for America-St. Louis, where she focused on teacher leadership development, strategic planning and aligning the organization’s priorities and structures.
She then served as interim director of curriculum and director of strategy and special projects for St. Louis Public Schools before being named executive director for Hiawatha Academies.
Roberto Rodríguez
President & Chief Executive Officer, Teach Plus
Roberto is President and CEO of Teach Plus. He spearheads the organization’s work to grow and strengthen the teacher leadership movement by developing and advancing teachers as leaders in education policy and practice, and by supporting their contribution to educational innovation and change in classrooms and schools.
Roberto has dedicated his career to advancing equity, access, and excellence in education. He is nationally recognized for his expertise in education policy and governance, and for his leadership in building multi-sector partnerships with schools, families, and communities to improve educational opportunities for all children. He is devoted to the principle that all students deserve a complete and competitive education that prepares them for college, careers, and lifelong success. Roberto served in senior roles in the United States Senate and in the White House. From 2009 to 2017, he served as President Obama’s Deputy Assistant to the President for Education where he developed and led education initiatives to build systemic change and improve opportunity and outcomes across the educational continuum. His efforts led to an increase of tens of thousands of additional children enrolled in early education; new partnerships to better personalize and re-design the high school experience to meet individual needs of students; creation of a new, national focus on excellence in STEM education; and an expansion of the Pell Grant to boost participation in higher education. Prior to his service in the White House, Roberto spent eight years as principal education advisor to the late U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, where he led successful bipartisan efforts that resulted in the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, and the Head Start Act of 2007. Roberto began his professional career in Washington, D.C. at the National Council of La Raza, where he directed research and policy analysis of federal and state education issues.
Roberto holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He resides with his wife and two children in the Washington, D.C. area.
Kara Allen Soldati
Chief Executive Officer, Umoja Student Development Corporation
Kara Allen Soldati is dedicated to leading, disrupting and developing things that make life better – – ensuring adequate access to critical services, meeting the needs of children, families and communities in historically under-resourced areas and creating systems and processes to enable the work to be efficient, effective and relevant now and into the future.
Kara’s most recent experience was as United Friends of the Children’s President & CEO, where she led a team of 61 staff to change the face of foster care in Los Angeles. Prior experience includes serving families in Los Angeles and the Bay Area as the Executive Director of CoachArt where she focused on creating inclusive learning communities for families battling childhood chronic illness. Prior to CoachArt, Kara served as the Chief Operating Officer of a large out-of-school-time provider in Southern California and worked and researched in both Uganda and Haiti. She also served as a Graduate School Fellow with Education Pioneers before joining the Education Pioneers team in Los Angeles. Kara was the Founding Program Director of C5 New England but truly realized her passion for the intersections of education in pursuit of uplifting individuals and communities after serving as a Special Education teacher in Oakland, California.
Kara completed her Doctorate in Educational Leadership for Social Justice at Loyola Marymount University where she researched student perceptions of the implications of being labeled “at risk.” Prior to LMU, Kara graduated with her Masters of Social Work at University of Southern California, completed coursework for her Masters of Education, and obtained her Bachelor’s degree from Purdue University. Kara serves on the Board of Directors for CoachArt and is an alum of the Aspen-Pahara NextGen Fellowship. She lives in Northeast Los Angeles with her partner, two little ladies (a fierce daughter and a rescue dog) and a tribe of very brilliant young people.
Amy Wilkins
Senior Vice President, Advocacy at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Amy is the Senior Vice President of Advocacy at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. She began her career as an organizer for Fair Share Action in the early 80s, before beginning a nearly decade-long tenure at the Children’s Defense Fund where, among other accomplishments, Wilkins helped pass a key child care and development block grant and pushed candidates to address children’s issues in the 1992 election. She next served in a series of political positions, working on health care legislation for the Democratic National Committee, leading public forums on child care for the U.S. Department of Labor, and serving as Acting Director for the White House Office of Media Affairs. In 1995, Wilkins joined The Education Trust , where for the next sixteen years she would lead the student advocacy organization through key milestones, including: driving their efforts to safeguard Title II of the Higher Education Act so that teachers have funding for preparation and training; shaping aspects of No Child Left Behind to protect our most vulnerable students; and increasing the visibility of pre-K as a priority issue. Wilkins was named Senior Fellow for Social Justice at The College Board in 2013, where she led efforts to increase AP enrollment among high achieving African American students, and addressed the achievement and attainment gaps separating middle class African American students from their white peers.
