Gislaine N. Ngounou brings a breadth of experience that includes work with nonprofits, individual schools, and school districts. She currently serves as the Senior Advisor of Organizational Development and Adaptive Change for Co-Impact, a global philanthropic collaborative that operates at the nexus of education, health, and economic empowerment through a gender justice lens—in order to improve the lives of millions of people through just and inclusive systems change. She also serves as a Senior Advisor at Learning Heroes, an organization that exists to strengthen partnership between families, schools and educators – in support of student learning, wellbeing, and thriving. Additionally, Gislaine is a practicing executive leadership coach who supports leaders across the education, nonprofit, and the philanthropic ecosystem.
Prior to that, she served as the Interim President and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. Prior to her work at Nellie Mae, she served as the Chief Program Officer for Phi Delta Kappa International, a national professional organization for educators. In this role, she designed and led programs that supported school district leaders, provided leadership coaching surrounding issues of equity and social justice, and created and facilitated an ongoing community that allowed system-level leaders in districts from across the country to learn from one another.
Gislaine also worked for school districts including Hartford Public Schools in Connecticut, Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, and the Kansas City, Missouri School District. She is passionate about social justice, racial equity, adult learning, youth and community empowerment, system change, and increasing educational opportunities for all students. Gislaine holds a Bachelor of Science degree and an Education Specialist in Administration degree from the University of Missouri Kansas City, a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Missouri Central, and a Doctorate in Education Leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education.