Meet the Executive Director

“Teaching and public education are my life’s work.”

With 22 years of education experience, Nikki joined the KIPP MA Team and Family in 2013 as a 6th grade humanities teacher at KIPP Academy Boston Middle School. After serving as the Dean of Students at KIPP Academy Boston in 2014, she became the School Leader in 2015 and began managing other school leaders by 2017 eventually being named KIPP Massachusetts’ first Chief Schools Officer in early 2020 and its first Black, female Executive Director in that same year.   

Under Nikki’s leadership KIPP Massachusetts has seen some of its highest rates of teacher diversity (63% ) and staff retention (84%) at a time when the profession has been at the center of issues that are dividing the state and the country leading to significant teacher shortages.  Nikki’s leadership has also led to 79% of the graduating classes of 2021 and 2022 enrolling and persisting in the post-secondary path of their choice. 

Nikki identifies as a “teacher at heart”  and her accomplishments in this role include being the first Black practicing classroom teacher to earn National Board Certification in the state of Virginia in the year 2000. In addition, she also has nearly 10 years of experience working in educational non-profit organizations focusing on teacher quality issues, professional development and engaging diverse communities of color. 

 Nikki is a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic University (1991) and Virginia Commonwealth University (2003) where her graduate research around Teacher Leadership was instrumental in the creation of the VCU Center for Teacher Leadership.

Nikki is the proud mother of two children: Adrianna and Jordan, both of whom are teachers at KIPP Academy Boston.