User Profile

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, The One World Network of Schools

Aaron Brenner is head of primary schools for the Knowledge Is Power Program's Early Childhood in KIPP Houston. He also works with the KIPP Houston Executive Team, the national KIPP Foundation, and is helping in the development and launch of KIPP Inspired schools internationally, with a focus on Latin America. He was previously founder and school leader of KIPP SHINE Prep, the nation's first KIPP Early Childhood and Elementary School. Aaron received an Echoing Green Fellowship, which allowed him to open the Donna Cultural Arts Center, Proyecto del Corazon, which he used to teach literacy through the arts. Aaron began his career in education as a Teach for America corps member in the Rio Grande Valley, where he taught second-grade ESL. He was named Teacher of the Year at the school, district, and regional levels. He received the KIPP Fisher Fellowship for School Leaders in the spring of 2004 and was a finalist for the Peter Jennings Award for Civic Leadership in 2007. Aaron graduated from Rhodes College and holds an MA in education from Stanford University, from which he graduated summa cum laude. Outside of his day to day work, Aaron supports and consults the efforts of leadership in Boston, Detroit, South Bend and Houston in their efforts to revitalize Catholic and Christian academies working within their most underserved communities. Aaron is married to a wonderful teacher, Diana Ruiz Brenner, and they are the happy parents of Isabella, 4, and Maria Fernanda, 5. He is a Fellow of the third class of Pahara-Aspen Fellowship Program and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.