User Profile

Chief Program Officer, WPS

Deborah is a seasoned strategic and entrepreneurial leader with expertise in designing, launching and leading successful learning organizations, development programs, and other growth initiatives that transform individuals' perspectives, mindsets and skills. Deborah was the Founding Chief Program Officer of the WPS institute, an educator institute grounded in humanistic learning principles, serving 450 educators from charter, district, private and faith-based schools across the United States. Deborah manages strategic partnerships and collaborations with secondary- and post-secondary partners, including Harvard Business School’s Center for Teaching & Learning, Olin College and Exeter Academy to design transformative programming based on storytelling, design thinking, the case-study method and Harkness discussion. Deborah was chief program officer and founding director of the National Academy of Advanced Teacher Education a national program of study dedicated to developing, retaining and leveraging top-tier educators in high-needs schools. At New Leaders, Deborah lead content development and the launch of EPIC, an online platform of professional learning. Deborah served in the NYC Department of Education under Chancellor Joel Klein, redesigning district approaches and supporting new school development efforts that resulted in 300 new district and charter schools. Deborah was a school designer with Expeditionary Learning and a co-founder of the NYC Public Service Corps, a high school service learning career tech program launched by the City of New York in 1992. Deborah holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management, an MSA in education administration from Trinity College in Washington, D.C, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Barnard College. Deborah was a New Leaders resident principal, and a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs in NYC. She is a Fellow of the 22nd class of the Pahara - Aspen Education Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.