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Head of School, Purdue Polytechnic Indianapolis High School, Purdue University

Scott Bess is the head of school for Purdue University’s Polytechnic High School in Indianapolis, which will launch in the fall of 2017. Targeting underserved students who might not otherwise be qualified to go on to obtain postsecondary credentials, Purdue Polytechnic’s challenge is to “reinvent” high school to meet the current and future needs of those students. He is a Fellow of the 15th class of the Pahara - Aspen Education Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Prior to joining Purdue, Scott was the senior vice president of mission advancement and the president and chief operating officer of Goodwill Education Initiatives, Inc. (GEI) at Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana. GEI operates The Excel Center, which targets older youth or adults who have dropped out of school. The Excel Center now serves over 5,000 students in fifteen locations and has more than 1,700 graduates. In 2013, Scott launched the Indiana Network of Independent Schools, which provides a range of back office and curricular services to traditional, charter and private schools. GEI also runs the Indianapolis Metropolitan High School, which provides students with dual-credit college courses, industry certifications, internships, and the opportunity to be placed in a high-wage job immediately after graduation. Scott, a graduate of Purdue University (BS, mathematics) and Marian University (MA, education) was a teacher, an executive in the IT field and business owner prior to joining Goodwill. Scott has four grown children and lives in Danville, Indiana with his wife, Robin. He served on the school board of trustees in Danville for sixteen years, and currently serves on the board of EmployIndy, the board of Ivy Tech Community College Central Indiana Region, the Region 5 Works Council and the Washington, DC Goodwill Excel Center Education.