Mike Montoya
Bio
Founder and CEO of Stronger Consulting, with thirty-two years in education.Appears in 49 Episodes
Proving Schools Can Get Better at Scale: Doubling Teacher Planning Time and Leading on Equity with Catherine Suitor
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...
Belonging Is Not a Side Issue: The Charter School Coalition That Can Still Say "Diversity" with Sonia Park
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 ot...
Vision Is Not Enough: How a CEO and COO Scale a National Nonprofit Together - with Vincent Marigna and Alex Serna
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 ...
Succession Is A Verb: Why Building Leaders Who Outlast You Is The Real CEO Job - With Marcia Aaron
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 Publi...
Nothing Goes to Waste Unless You Decide It Does: Cradle to Career Work, Coalition Building, and Spartanburg's Long Game with Keisha Gray
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. A...
Stop Grinding and Start Sustaining: What Education Leaders Actually Need to Last with Vanessa Rodriguez
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, f...
We’re Preparing Kids for the Wrong World: Economic Mobility, Coalition Building, and the Long Game in Public Education with Dr. David W. James
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...
Schools as Love Letters: Identity, Boldness, and the False Binaries Holding Education Back with Tricia Noyola
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 t...
Stop Chasing the New: How Consistency Builds Charter Schools That Last with Scott Hindman
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...
What Curiosity Teaches Us About Leading Schools — with Joanna Belcher
From teaching fourth grade in Compton to founding a KIPP elementary school in Newark, Joanna Belcher has spent her career building schools and supporting leaders who b...
Finding Opportunity Through Relationships: From Immigrant Roots to Talent Leadership with Ron Rapatalo
What happens when the path your family imagined for you isn’t the one you’re meant to follow? From being the son of Filipino immigrants in Brooklyn to a leader shapin...
From Helicopters to Schools: Leadership Lessons from James Willcox
From Army Blackhawk pilot to transformative education leader, James Willcox shares how a life grounded in service and family shaped his path to reshaping K-12 educatio...
From Immigrant Roots to Leading a Charter Network Through Complexity with Shara Hegde
From Boston to East San Jose, Shara Hegde shares her journey from Ivy League graduate to CEO of Alpha Public Schools and what it takes to lead charter schools through ...
Breaking the Mobility Trap: Aligning Partners Around Cradle-to-Career Outcomes – with Bill Crim
What if the promise that each generation will do better than the last is slipping away? In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya talks with Bill Crim, CEO...
From Lifelong Immigrant to Education CEO: Leading With Compassion for Multilingual Learners – with Dr. Daniel Velasco
From lifelong immigrant to education equity leader, Daniel Velasco shares how identity, resilience, and compassion shaped his journey to becoming President and CEO of ...
Mergers Aren’t Failures: Protecting Impact Through Trust and Strategy – with Jessica Sutter
From Bronx roots to shaping the future of public education: Jessica Sutter shares how a life grounded in service, trust, and intellectual rigor led her from the classr...
The Shiny New Penny Problem: Data-Driven Courage for Lasting School Change – with Kelli Marshall
From sixth-grade math teacher to superintendent to leadership coach — Kelli Marshall shares how data-driven courage, deep relationships, and a clear “why” can transfor...
Leveraging Life Experiences: Behind a Career in Youth Opportunity and Equity
From a childhood shaped by instability to a career dedicated to building pathways of opportunity, The Stronger Podcast host, Mike Montoya, shares how resilience, educa...