Executive Director

Executive Director for The Carl

A. DeSantis Center for Educational Strategy and Innovation

FAU Lab Schools seeks an entrepreneurial, data-informed, and results-oriented Executive Director to launch and lead The Carl

A. DeSantis Center for Educational Strategy and Innovation (the Center). The Center is established through a $10 million, five-year catalytic investment from the Carl Angus DeSantis Foundation to scale the proven practices of FAU Lab Schools, a three-time National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, across Palm Beach and Broward counties, throughout Florida, and nationally.

The Executive Director serves as the chief architect and champion of the Center. The Executive Director will translate the Center's five-year business plan into annual implementation plans, recruit and lead the Center team, manage the Foundation grant with full fiscal and programmatic accountability, and build the measurement systems, partnerships, and revenue streams that will sustain the Center beyond the initial investment.

Position Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Center Expansion

The Executive Director will establish the Center's operating model and lead its expansion over the five-year grant period.

• Translate strategic initiatives into actionable implementation plans that identify responsibilities, milestones, deliverables, performance indicators, staffing, and costs.

• Develop a balanced portfolio that addresses immediate institutional and partner needs while advancing long-term innovation, measurable impact, scalability, and financial sustainability.

• Recruit and onboard Center staff and stand up core infrastructure, including the Learning Management System, continuing education registration, and event operations.

• Identify emerging challenges, research findings, technologies, and workforce needs in education, and translate them into programs, services, and partnerships.

• Create a disciplined process for evaluating, testing, launching, refining, and scaling new initiatives, and use evidence to decide which initiatives to expand, redesign, or discontinue.

Professional Learning and Leadership Development

The Executive Director will build a distinctive portfolio of learning experiences that connects research and practice for Florida educators and leaders.

• Assess emerging professional and organizational learning needs and developing scalable frameworks for educator development, leadership development, workforce preparation, and organizational improvement.

• Expand teacher and leader professional learning in coordination with the Stiles-Nicholson STEM Teacher Academy and leadership partners to meet or exceed performance targets.

• Develop and award micro-credentials and STEM certifications, and design LMS-based virtual courses that extend the Center's reach.

• Design innovation-focused curricula that move leaders from compliance management to innovation architecture and prepare them to anticipate workforce needs.

• Apply principles of instructional design, adult learning, and talent development so that participants move beyond passive professional development to measurable changes in practice.

• Identify, recruit, and cultivate faculty, practitioners, industry experts, presenters, and nationally recognized subject-matter experts.

School Model Scaling and Replication

The Executive Director will position FAU Lab Schools as a national resource for schools and districts seeking proven, replicable models.

• Provide consulting and implementation support to partner districts.

• Expand the university lab school partner network across Florida and nationally.

• Support Center and research site visits annually for school and district leaders, educators, and policymakers.

• Develop and disseminate replication blueprints, toolkits, and…