Episodes

Education Leaders Don't Last Twenty Years Anymore: Lead Yourself Before You Lead Others with Bill Kurtz

Episode 40 · August 6, 2026 · 47:18

 Education leader Bill Kurtz spent twenty years building DSST Public Schools into one of Denver's top performing charter networks, then spent nine months learning how not to be it. H...

Washington Thought It Was Different: What It Takes to Grow Great Charter Schools Anywhere with Julie Kennedy

Episode 39 · July 30, 2026 · 53:50

Charter schools have been legal in Washington for just over a decade, and Excellent Schools Washington founder Julie Kennedy has a blunt read on why the start was rocky. The sector d...

Not Everything That Ends Is a Failure: Career Pivots, Growth Mindset, and Redefining Fulfillment with Tess Vigil

Episode 38 · July 23, 2026 · 47:50

Tess Vigil has had her role reduced or eliminated four times, and she will tell you none of it was failure. It was clarity. From a Los Angeles dress company to culturally responsive ...

People Already Know What They Need: Behavioral Health Systems, Agency, and the Softening That Leaders Resist with Denise Jensen

Episode 37 · July 16, 2026 · 44:59

Ten percent of Utah's children were using roughly ninety percent of the state's behavioral health funding, and no one system owned them. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mik...

A Turtle Carries Home on Its Back: First-Generation Leadership and Student Success in Higher Ed with Dr. Aidé Acosta

Episode 36 · July 9, 2026 · 49:32

Dr. Aidé Acosta went from a first-generation college student navigating higher education without a map to the Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at National Loui...

Keep Your Eye on the Ball: 27 Years on a School Board and the Discipline of Not Getting Distracted with Bobby Blount

Episode 35 · July 2, 2026 · 45:33

Bobby Blount has served on the Northside ISD school board for 27 years, and he has spent every one of them refusing to get distracted from the one thing that matters: whether kids ac...

The Hidden Power of Relational Intelligence in Building High-Performing Teams with Dr. Jennifer Brown

Episode 34 · June 25, 2026 · 48:46

Relational intelligence may be the one advantage humans keep as AI gets smarter, and Dr. Jennifer Brown has spent 25 years proving it builds stronger teams. A regional superintendent...

Stop Reimagining School, Start Building Better Ones: Why Intentionally Diverse Schools Are an Antidote with Ashley Heard

Episode 33 · June 18, 2026 · 46:50

Ashley Heard has spent eight years making the case for intentionally diverse charter schools, and she is more convinced than ever that they matter right now. In this episode of The ...

Stop Chasing Innovation in Education: Why Relationships and Retention Are What Actually Work with Erik Greenberg

Episode 32 · June 11, 2026 · 52:23

Education leader Erik Greenberg never planned to work in schools. Now, as CEO of Academies of Math and Science, he argues that the answer to America's education problem is not innova...

From Classroom to Movement: How Dominique Lee is Reshaping Education

Episode 31 · June 4, 2026 · 53:46

From classroom teacher to founder of a cradle to career movement, Dominique Lee built the BRICK Education Network in Newark to do what schools alone never could: support a child and ...

Make the Exception the Rule: Why Strong School Boards Decide Who Gets Opportunity, with Ethan Ashley

Episode 30 · May 28, 2026 · 48:45

Ethan Ashley got handcuffed at a police precinct at age six for stealing a pack of gum. He went on to finish high school at sixteen, earn a law degree from Howard by twenty-two, win ...

Proving Schools Can Get Better at Scale: Doubling Teacher Planning Time and Leading on Equity with Catherine Suitor

Episode 29 · May 21, 2026 · 58:47

Catherine Suitor has spent two decades proving that schools can get better at scale, and she has the data to back it up.  As Executive Director of the Alliance College-Ready Public S...

Belonging Is Not a Side Issue: The Charter School Coalition That Can Still Say "Diversity" with Sonia Park

Episode 28 · May 14, 2026 · 54:31

Charter school leader Sonia Park spent her childhood as one of the only kids of color in suburban Philadelphia schools, then watched her own son experience the same othering thirty y...

Vision Is Not Enough: How a CEO and COO Scale a National Nonprofit Together - with Vincent Marigna and Alex Serna

Episode 27 · May 7, 2026 · 44:59

Scaling a 48-year-old national nonprofit takes more than vision. It takes a CEO and COO who trust each other enough to move fast in ambiguity. In this episode of The Stronger Podcas...

Succession Is A Verb: Why Building Leaders Who Outlast You Is The Real CEO Job - With Marcia Aaron

Episode 26 · April 30, 2026 · 49:35

Marcia Aaron leads Charter School Growth Fund's investments across Texas, Arizona, Idaho, and Utah, and before that, she spent thirteen years building KIPP SoCal Public Schools from ...

Nothing Goes to Waste Unless You Decide It Does: Cradle to Career Work, Coalition Building, and Spartanburg's Long Game with Keisha Gray

Episode 25 · April 23, 2026 · 50:12

Keisha Gray sits down with Mike Montoya to make the case that cross sector collaboration is not a value statement, it is a muscle communities build out of necessity. And that operati...

Stop Grinding and Start Sustaining: What Education Leaders Actually Need to Last with Vanessa Rodriguez

Episode 24 · April 16, 2026 · 49:29

Vanessa Rodriguez, Executive Vice President of People at the Pahara Institute at Lone Rock, has spent her career building systems that give young people a fair shot, from District 79...

We’re Preparing Kids for the Wrong World: Economic Mobility, Coalition Building, and the Long Game in Public Education with Dr. David W. James

Episode 23 · April 9, 2026 · 52:17

Former Akron Public Schools superintendent Dr. David W. James never planned to work in education. He started at NASA, moved into environmental consulting, and ended up leading a scho...

Schools as Love Letters: Identity, Boldness, and the False Binaries Holding Education Back with Tricia Noyola

Episode 22 · April 2, 2026 · 46:12

Tricia Noyola is a charter school leader, Regional Superintendent at the KIPP Foundation, and former CEO of Rocky Mountain Prep who builds schools as love letters to the communities ...

Stop Chasing the New: How Consistency Builds Charter Schools That Last with Scott Hindman

Episode 21 · March 26, 2026 · 49:17

Charter school leader Scott Hindman went from minor league baseball to investment banking to building one of New Mexico's most impactful public education networks. The lesson he keep...