KIPP Texas Leadership

Sehba Ali is the former Superintendent of KIPP Houston Public Schools. In 2004, she founded KIPP Heartwood Academy Middle School in San Jose, CA, which was consistently rated one of the highest-performing middle schools in California. Prior to taking the helm at KIPP Houston, Sehba served as Chief Academic Officer for KIPP Bay Area Schools. She began her career as a middle school English teacher in Houston, Texas with Teach For America. Sehba earned her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and her Masters from Stanford University. She was a Pahara-Aspen fellow and completed the Broad Academy for Superintendents. She currently mentors two KIPP EDs and serves on the Connect Community and The Post Oak School boards.

Sơn was appointed as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in 2022. Son’s family immigrated to the United States in 1975 and are refugees from Viet Nam. He previously served as Controller for KIPP Houston for 4 years before leaving for South Sudan. When returning to the United States, KIPP Texas asked Sơn to return and soon served as Interim CFO for KIPP Houston at the nascent stages of the KIPP Texas merger. After the merger, Sơn served in the Deputy Chief of Finance role leading accounting, FP&A, compliance, and procurement. Sơn graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA and Master’s in Public Accountancy. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Public Accountant. Read more about Sơn’s leadership story here.

Laura brings 15 years of experience within the KIPP community, serving in various roles, including Principal, School Leader Manager, Managing Director of School Operations, and most recently, Deputy Chief of School Operations. Her deep understanding of our organization, ability to approach operations from multiple angles, and experience as a School Leader make her an invaluable operations and organizational leader. Laura oversees school operations, operations services, and strategy.

Ann Scott joined KIPP in October 2019. In her role, she raises funds to support strategic initiatives. As an advocate of educational opportunity and equity for all students, Scott works to ensure all children can have access to an education that prepares them for success in life.

Upon graduating from Oakwood College, Ann joined Teach For America and taught at White Elementary School in the HISD for four years. Ann subsequently joined the staff of Teach For America and led the region to double its presence in Houston and improve teacher impact on student outcomes. She has also worked as the Chief Human Resources Officer for HISD. Striving to improve the teacher evaluation process, Ann led the district’s teacher effectiveness efforts including the design and implementation of an improved teacher appraisal and development system that would hold teachers accountable to student achievement as part of their evaluation. Ann had the privilege of returning to Teach For America to manage and develop alumni leadership initiatives. In this role, she pioneered the development of a fellowship for experienced alumni to transition into leadership roles in districts across the country.

Dan Caesar is one of KIPP’s longest-standing Big KIPPsters with more than 27 years of service. He has honed his craft as an instructional expert as a former teacher, grade level chair, assistant principal, founding school leader of KIPP 3D, school leader manager, and the Regional Superintendent for KIPP Texas-Houston.

Longtime Big KIPPster, Dr. Rona Simmons, was named the Chief Academic Officer beginning September 2023.

In 2018, Dr. Simmons decided to join the KIPP Texas Team and Family. Since then, she has been a School Leader Manager, Managing Director of KTX Middle Schools, and the Deputy Chief of Academic Recovery. Nearly two decades after stepping foot into her first classroom as a teacher, Dr. Simmons continues to honor her commitment to children and families. In every role, she consistently demonstrates a keen ability to lead with humility, inspire others, re-imagine what is possible for children, and, most importantly, ensure we achieve outstanding academic results for Little KIPPsters.

Upon graduation from Saint Vincent College, Jenna joined Teach for America and taught at Lantrip Elementary School in the Houston Independent School District (HISD) for seven years. During this time, she pursued her master’s in business administration and school leadership at the University of St. Thomas.

Jenna’s passion for education and her entrepreneurial spirit led her to the Energy Institute High School, where she assumed a pivotal role on the leadership team. Here, she helped develop the district’s first fully integrated project-based learning program and worked as the Corporate Liaison to develop meaningful partnerships with energy industry leaders. Notably, Energy Institute High School became the nation’s sole high school dedicated to preparing students for careers in the energy sector.

Driven by her desire to equip young minds for successful future careers, Jenna joined Atlas Scholars, a Houston-based nonprofit organization, as the inaugural Executive Director of Atlas Scholars. In this capacity, Jenna led the charge in developing innovative programs aimed at preparing students for high-performance careers in the energy and finance sectors. Her leadership was instrumental in driving the organization’s development and partnership efforts.

She recently joined the board of trustees of the Aspirations Academies Trust in England, which provides opportunities to collaborate and learn from educators across the world. In her spare time, she enjoys coaching lacrosse (having played through college), spending time with her rescue pup, Walter, and traveling.

Long-time Big KIPPster Eric Coleman has led the KIPP Texas – Dallas-Fort Worth region since 2022. In the last decade at KIPP Texas, Eric has repeatedly proven that he makes decisions with students at the center, has a deep personal connection to our mission, and lives our values through and through. We are grateful for his deep experience managing schools, drive to chase excellence, unwavering commitment to creating brave and belonging spaces, and outstanding instructional expertise.

Frank first joined KIPP Houston in 2007 as a 2nd-grade teacher and Miles Family Fellow at KIPP SHINE, working with the Class of 2018, our first set of primary Little KIPPsters in the nation. He went on to serve as the founding school leader of KIPP Explore Academy on the East End campus. It was there he honed his craft and developed his passion for serving our littlest KIPPsters. Over the years, Frank continued to excel in teaching and inspecting instructional excellence.

Outside of the classroom, Frank is a tremendous partner to many when solving day-to-day school management matters and an exemplary coach. During his time as head of schools, he has coached school leaders at eleven of the fourteen KIPP Texas-Houston campuses. Frank is committed to leadership development as he helped to coach seven of his former teachers at KIPP Explore Academy to later become KIPP Texas-Houston school leaders. He’s also an avid youth baseball coach in both the East End and Southeast communities of Houston.

Guadalupe started her journey as a bilingual teacher educating students on the West side of San Antonio. After teaching, she became a campus instructional coordinator and coached and managed PK-8th grade teachers. She then became an assistant principal, coached teachers, and managed all school operations.

Soon, Guadalupe was promoted to principal of IDEA Carver Academy. In three years, she and her team were able to move the entire body of K-5 readers from 26% to 77% reading on and above grade level. She has also led the region’s lowest-performing school to become top-rated, receiving an “A” rated state distinction and the campus of the year. She then accepted the position of Vice President of Schools, achieving great success with the nine schools she managed.

Moni has spent 21 years in public education, leading transformational change by confronting injustice and disrupting complacency by building leadership capacity and mobilizing teams. She was most recently the Executive Director in Houston ISD and previously served as a VP of Schools and as a middle school Principal, where she leveraged building community partnerships, increasing teacher and leadership instructional capacity, and increasing stakeholder voice to ensure access and equity for all students.

Moni is a native Texan and a first-generation American. She is the proud daughter of immigrants who, she says, instead of assimilating, ingrained in her the value of diversity, strong conviction in core beliefs, and resolve to maintain sovereignty while working within her community to serve as an active contributor to the evolution of the quality of life for herself and others. 

Longtime Big KIPPster Dr. Rian Wright was named the Regional Superintendent of the newly formed School Transformation Region in April 2024. The Transformation Region’s inaugural schools include nine KIPP Texas Austin, Dallas, and Houston primary schools.  

Dr. Wright has over 18 years of experience in education, with ten years of being a member of the KIPP Texas Public Schools Team and Family, serving in various roles. She has been fortunate to be the founding Director of College Counseling, School Leader, School Leader Manager, Managing Director of Academic Acceleration and Intervention, and most recently, the Deputy Chief of School Achievement.  Dr. Wright demonstrates her unwavering commitment to academic excellence and student success in every role by partnering with leaders to improve student achievement outcomes in our schools and prove what is possible for all KIPPsters.

Dr. Wright earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Central Michigan University, a Master’s in Education Administration, and a PhD in Education Policy and Planning from The University of Texas at Austin.