Jean Desravines serves as the Chief Executive Officer of New Leaders. As CEO, he has expanded the organization to approximately 200 staff supporting leaders in more than 15 urban school districts and over 100 charter schools across the country. Recognizing that there are more than 16,000 schools serving more than 7 million high poverty children in the United States, Jean recently initiated the organization’s first scale strategy to design and launch a program to improve the practice of sitting principals and their instructional teams with the goal of preparing 1 million students for success in college, careers, and citizenship by 2020.
Prior to his appointment as CEO in 2011, Jean served as Chief Officer for Cities and Policy at New Leaders for five years. In that role, Jean oversaw the management of New Leaders city teams, including the launch of five of the organization’s sites, and the organization’s national public policy and public funding work.
Jean has more than 15 years of professional leadership experience working with parents and communities on education issues and community development, with a primary focus on improving outcomes for kids in underserved communities. Before joining New Leaders, Jean served as Senior Counselor to the Chancellor of New York City’s public school system, the Executive Director for the Office of Parent and Community Engagement, Chief of Staff to the Senior Counselor for Education Policy, and Director for Community Relations at the New York City Department of Education, and the Director of Organizational Development and Community Programming for the Faith Center for Community Development, Inc.
Jean serves as a board member for America Achieves, 100Kin10, his alma mater 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 been named to Forbes’ “Impact 30,” recognizing the world’s
leading social entrepreneurs. He was one of twenty-four exceptional leaders from across the country selected to participate in the Aspen Institute/NewSchools Venture Fund Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education Fellowship Program. Jean earned a B.A. in history from St. Francis College and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from New York University, where he was the recipient of the Dean’s Scholarship.
Mission
New Leaders’ 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.