Founder / CEO

Jean Desravines

Chief Executive Officer at New Leaders Org. Jean S. Desravines serves as the Chief Executive Officer of New Leaders, a national non-profit organization whose mission is to ensure high academic achievement for all children, especially students in poverty and students of color, by developing transformational school leaders and advancing the policies and practices that allow great leaders to succeed. As CEO, he has grown the organization to approximately 200 staff supporting over 3,000 educational leaders in 20 cities and regions and over 100 charter schools across the country. Under Jean’s leadership, New Leaders increased the number of leaders served by over 400% in five years. To address the needs of the 7 million high-poverty children in schools in the United States, Jean initiated the organization’s ambitious scale strategy to launch a program designed for principals and their instructional teams to prepare 1 million students for success in college, careers, and citizenship by 2020. Jean has over 20 years of professional leadership. Before joining New Leaders, Jean held a number of leadership roles at the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) in the Bloomberg Administration, including Senior Counselor to Chancellor Joel Klein, Executive Director for the Office of Parent and Community Engagement, and Chief of Staff to the Senior Counselor for Education Policy. Prior to the NYCDOE, Jean served in other key roles in the nonprofit sector and with local New York City elected officials. Jean serves on the board of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), a publicly traded company. HMH is a global leader in Pre K-12 educational content and services, combining digital innovation and research to make learning more engaging and effective. Jean is also a board member for 100Kin10 and America Achieves, as well as St. Francis College and St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, NJ. Jean also served as a member of Governor Cuomo’s Education Reform Commission and was named to Forbes’ “Impact 30,” recognizing the world’s leading social entrepreneurs from across the country. He co-authored two books: Breakthrough Principals The School Leadership Playbook Jean earned a B.A. in history from St. Francis College and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from New York University. He lives in New York with his wife and is the proud father of a son and daughter in high school.

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