Alumni Profile

 

“For the first time in my life, I love my work,” says Lindsay Kruse, a Columbia M.B.A., Broad Resident alumnus and senior director of human capital for Uncommon Schools, a New York-based charter management organization that runs 16 schools.

 

After working as a consultant for Ernst & Young (now Capgemini), managing technology, business process redesign and change management projects for Fortune 500 clients, Kruse wanted a career change. She joined a charter organization rather than a school district because she wanted a “hands-on” job where she could have a deeper impact with a smaller number of students.

 

One of Kruse’s first projects was to develop Uncommon Schools’ one-year leadership fellowship program to train internal and external hires to become operational and instructional school leaders. She is now in charge of developing a team to support, develop and retain the organization’s talented teachers, leaders and home office staff.

 

“It is incredibly intense. We are trying to prove the success of our models and scale them up,” says Kruse, referring to Uncommon Schools’ current efforts to grow from 16 to 38 schools by 2015. “It is so rewarding because you can get work done. That said, we are operating in a world of uncertainty, where rules aren’t well-defined.”

 

Uncommon Schools has consistently demonstrated impressive results and is diligently working to close achievement gaps. In 2009, 89 percent of Uncommon’s third- through eighth-grade students scored advanced or proficient on New York’s English language arts exam, compared to 77 percent of students in the state and 69 percent of students in New York City. Ninety-eight percent of Uncommon’s third- through eighth-grade students scored advanced or proficient on the math exam.

To those considering this kind of work, Kruse says, "You won't regret it. Every day I am challenged more than I was in the private sector to bring management and leadership to life."