ORGANIZATION: Aspire NorCal

POSITION: Chief Executive Officer

LOCATION: Bay Area or Central Valley, CA

REPORTS TO: Board of Directors

Background

Founded in 1998, Aspire Public Schools has served students and communities across California for nearly three decades. Following Aspire Los Angeles's transition into an independent region, Aspire’s Bay Area and Central Valley regions will come together to form Aspire NorCal.

Aspire NorCal will operate 22 schools serving approximately 9,830 students across Northern California, with schools located in Oakland, Richmond, East Palo Alto, Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, and Ceres.

This evolution comes at an important moment for Aspire. Changes in California's funding, policy, enrollment, and operating environment have created an opportunity to rethink how the organization supports its schools and scholars in its next chapter. The formation of Aspire NorCal creates an opportunity to strengthen support for schools across teams previously organized by geography, improve the consistency and effectiveness of school support, and create clear accountability systems for organizational and student outcomes. The new model will require the organization to balance greater coherence across Aspire NorCal with responsiveness to the different communities and contexts of its schools.

Aspire NorCal will operate within a new leadership structure led by the CEO. The CEO will have the opportunity to help shape how this new leadership team works together and how the broader organization supports schools and scholars, and is expected to include a President to lead all non-instructional functions, a Chief of Schools, a Chief Financial Officer, a Chief Operating Officer, a General Counsel, a Chief Technology Officer, and two superintendents. Aspire NorCal enters this transition with a long-standing mission focused on post-secondary success and a deep commitment to educational equity, along with decades of institutional knowledge across its schools and teams. Preserving those strengths while building Aspire NorCal as a unified region will be central to the work ahead.

Opportunity

Aspire NorCal seeks a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to lead the organization through its formation and into the next chapter. Reporting to the Board of Directors, the CEO will set Aspire NorCal's strategic direction and hold overall responsibility for the organization's academic performance, organizational health, and long-term sustainability.

Aspire NorCal offers a distinctive opportunity to build on nearly three decades of history while helping shape a new organization for the future. Aspire has developed deep roots in the communities it serves and a team with significant institutional knowledge, including educators and leaders who have grown their careers within the organization and former students who have returned to serve the next generation. The next CEO will inherit that depth of commitment while having a meaningful opportunity to shape Aspire NorCal's strategy, leadership team, culture, and ways of working. For a leader motivated by both educational impact and organizational building, the role offers the chance to lead a school system that is larger than 93% of school districts in the U.S., and serves scholars across various communities and contexts, and a rare opportunity to demonstrate impact and outcomes that are relevant to high-need communities across the country.

Key Priorities for the Chief Executive Officer

• Drive stronger student outcomes and academic excellence: Work with the Chief of Schools to establish clear expectations for student achievement across Aspire NorCal, with measurable goals for student and school performance, and ensure instructional leaders, schools, and support teams are aligned around those expectations.
• Build one Aspire NorCal while remaining connected to schools and communities: Unify the Bay Area and Central Valley regions while recognizing the distinct histories, communities, and needs of Aspire's schools. Spend meaningful time in schools, understand the realities facing educators and school leaders, and ensure organizational decisions remain grounded in what schools and scholars need.
• Create organizational clarity, accountability, and disciplined execution: Translate Aspire NorCal's strategy into focused priorities, clear roles and decision rights, measurable goals, and consistent expectations. Ensure follow-through and accountability across the organization, and introduce new initiatives thoughtfully, with proper resourcing and alignment to clear organizational priorities.
• Build trust through transparent and consistent leadership: Lead with openness, integrity, and consistency during a period of significant change. Establish clear communication and meaningful mechanisms for input, explain the rationale behind consequential decisions, and maintain powerful organizational feedback cycles that translate into action.
• Attract and retain a high-performing leadership team: Assemble, develop, and retain leaders who can lead Aspire NorCal's instructional and non-instructional functions. Establish clear ownership and performance expectations, strengthen talent development and succession, and create a culture in which leaders collaborate effectively while remaining accountable for results.
• Position Aspire NorCal for long-term financial and organizational sustainability: Develop a clear strategy for navigating enrollment trends, funding pressures, staffing needs, and the financial implications of Aspire's transition to two independent Aspire regions (i.e., NorCal and Los Angeles). Align resources with organizational priorities and school needs while building a sustainable operating model.
• Navigate California's charter landscape and strengthen external relationships: Build productive relationships with authorizers, local and state leaders, community partners, funders, and other external stakeholders. Anticipate and navigate charter renewals and changes in the external environment and serve as a credible advocate for Aspire NorCal and its schools.
• Lead organizational change while preserving Aspire's core commitments: Provide stability and direction through the formation of Aspire NorCal while preserving the organization's commitment to students, educational equity, families, communities, and postsecondary opportunity. Evaluate existing practices and structures based on their effectiveness and make changes when needed to better serve scholars and schools.

Qualifications

The ideal Chief Executive Officer candidate will bring the following experiences, skills, and mindsets/values:

Required Experience

• 7-10+ years of K-12 senior leadership experience, including leading a complex, multi-site organization through change, with direct experience working in or closely with schools.
• Demonstrated experience managing and developing senior leaders, building effective teams, and establishing clear expectations and accountability.
• Experience leading across geographically distinct schools or communities.
• Experience navigating enrollment and financial pressures, including aligning resources with organizational priorities and building financially sustainable operating models.
• Experience using academic, operational, financial, and organizational data to assess performance, establish priorities, and inform decisions.
• Experience navigating complex political and stakeholder environments, building relationships across diverse internal and external constituencies, and serving as a credible and visible organizational leader..

Preferred Experience

• Knowledge of California's K-12 and charter school landscape, including charter authorization and renewal.
• Established relationships within Northern California education, civic, philanthropic, or community networks.

Skills

• Ability to establish a clear organizational and academic vision and translate it into focused priorities, measurable goals, and disciplined execution.
• Strong instructional judgment and the ability to maintain high expectations for academic performance while empowering instructional leaders to execute.
• Ability to build, develop, and hold senior leaders accountable for results.
• Strong organizational judgment, including the ability to clarify roles, decision rights, structures, and systems in a changing environment.
• Financial and operational acumen and the ability to make thoughtful resource decisions in support of long-term sustainability.
• Ability to listen across perspectives, synthesize information, make decisions, and communicate direction and rationale clearly.
• Ability to build trust and productive relationships across schools, regional and central teams, the Board, authorizers, and external partners.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and lead significant organizational change while maintaining focus on students, schools, and organizational priorities.

Mindsets/Values

• Maintains a consistent focus on students, rigorous academic expectations, and improved student outcomes.
• Leads with integrity, transparency, consistency, and sound judgment.
• Listens closely to school staff and leaders, stays grounded in school realities, and remains visible and connected to Aspire NorCal’s communities.
• Values educational equity and understands that Aspire NorCal serves communities with different histories, contexts, and needs.
• Approaches leadership with curiosity and humility while demonstrating the courage to make difficult decisions and address underperformance when necessary.
• Builds trust through clear communication, respect, consistency, and follow-through.
• Values collaboration while establishing clear ownership and accountability.
• Respects Aspire's history and enduring commitments while remaining willing to evaluate and change structures, systems, and practices that are not producing the intended results.

Compensation and Application

Aspire is offering a competitive salary and benefits package, including a base salary up to $375,000 annually.

Initial Application Deadline: October 25, 2026