Welcoming New Members of our Senior Leadership Team to DPS

Dear Team DPS:

Please join me in welcoming two new faces to our senior leadership team: Georgia Duran, Chief of Family and Community Engagement (FACE), and Eddie Koen, Chief of Staff. I'm thrilled that these two amazing leaders will be joining our team and lending their talents to help achieve our vision, Every Child Succeeds.

Both Georgia and Eddie met with their respective teams this week and will be starting their new roles in the next month. I want to share a little bit about each leader:

	Georgia Duran

FACE Chief: Georgia Duran comes to us from Aurora Public Schools, where she has spent the past decade leading communications and community engagement efforts. But Georgia shares that DPS is home -- she grew up in Denver, attended Knapp Elementary and Lake Junior High before graduating from West High School (Go, Cowboys!), and was the first in her family to graduate from college. Most recently, she earned a doctorate in Leadership for Educational Equity from the University of Colorado.

Georgia's career has focused on improving educational opportunities for all students, including successfully increasing student, parent and community engagement in APS through strategic and inclusive outreach in more than 10 languages. She also served on the board of the original West Denver Prep (now STRIVE) charter school and is a founding member of the Colorado Association of Latino/a Administrators and Superintendents. Georgia has mentored students for more than 25 years and is committed to creating change so that every student receives a high-quality education.

 

	Eddie Koen

Chief of Staff: Eddie Koen joins DPS from the nonprofit world, most recently serving as founding regional executive director for College Track, which serves cohorts of under-served students from the summer before ninth grade through college graduation. The 10-year program aims to remove the barriers that prevent students from earning their college degree. Eddie raised almost $2 million in capital to start a new College Track site in Denver.

Like Georgia, Eddie understands the obstacles that face diverse students in their quest for academic success. He initially dropped out of high school in his hometown of Chicago before returning and going on to become a first-generation college graduate. He then went on to earn his law degree from Samford University. In addition to College Track, Eddie has worked with Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver, Charity's House Ministries and the Equal Justice Initiative.

Please join me in giving a warm welcome to these new members of Team DPS!

Best,

Tom

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