Director
704.714.4438 · email
Kate joined The Lee Institute as a Director in December 2017. Her responsibilities include project design, consulting and the delivery of programming in The Lee Institute’s core service areas of strategic planning, organizational development, facilitation, public engagement and project management. Prior to joining the Lee team, Kate spent ten years in secondary education serving low-income, minority youth in Saint Louis and Chicago. She taught high school English for five years and served in school leadership positions for five years, including three years as an Assistant Principal of Teaching and Learning. As Assistant Principal she set the instructional vision and goals for the school, designed and delivered all professional development to instructional staff, and managed and coached instructional leaders and teachers to achieve significant results with their students.
As a classroom teacher Kate led her students to consistently high levels of growth in reading skills as measured on the ACT college-entrance exam. She was awarded the Pettus Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2010 by Saint Louis Public Schools. She is also an alumna of Teach For America, a national corps of teachers dedicated to closing the opportunity gap in the U.S. by teaching for at least two years in under-resourced public schools.
Kate earned an M.Ed. in Secondary Education from the University of Missouri—Saint Louis and an M.A. in English Literature from Boston University. A native of Charlotte, Kate graduated from Wake Forest University with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Kate loves spending time with her husband and infant daughter and enjoys travel and outdoor activity.