About KIPP: Our leadership team

KIPP Foundation Operating Committee

Richard Barth, Chief Executive Officer
Richard Barth joined KIPP in December, 2005. As president and CEO of the KIPP Foundation, Barth led the organization through the process of identifying five organizational imperatives to ensure the sustainability of the KIPP network as it grows to over 100 schools in the next five years. In the past two years, he has overseen the expansion of KIPP’s leadership development programs, put in place a disciplined approach to managing growth, recruited three new outside directors to the KIPP Foundation board, and secured over $30 million in new, long-term funding commitments. He also serves as president of the KIPP Foundation board of directors. Barth came to KIPP from Edison Schools, where he served as President of District Partnerships and managed Edison Schools’ partnership in Philadelphia. Prior to joining Edison, Barth was one of the founding staff members at Teach For America. He earned a BA in American History from Harvard University. Barth is an Aspen Institute-New Schools Fellow. He currently sits on the board of directors of The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems and Be the Change, Inc.
Mazher Ahmad, Chief People Officer
As Chief People Officer, Mazher is responsible for managing the Human Resources division of the KIPP Foundation. Mazher joins KIPP from Dun & Bradstreet, where he served in a number of strategic HR and business leadership roles, including helping create and manage the company's high potential leadership development programs, directing senior level executive searches, and serving as the Chief of Staff to the Chairman & CEO. He was previously a management consultant for Marakon Associates and a partner with CommuniCorp International, where he created and led a variety of learning and development initiatives. Mazher earned his MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and holds BA degrees in Communications and International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania. Mazher and his wife Maryam, have one daughter, Sophia.
Jonathan Cowan, Executive Vice President, Research, Design & Innovation
Jonathan Cowan joined the KIPP Foundation in October 2008. As the EVP of Research, Design, and Innovation (RDI), Jonathan is responsible for leading the RDI team’s efforts to support the KIPP network in getting better as we get bigger by (1) leading network-wide innovation efforts in support of KIPP’s regions and schools; (2) enabling local, grassroots innovation to have a broader impact by identifying what’s working and helping to catalyze and disseminate it, and (3) driving ongoing insight via research and analysis that feeds KIPP’s innovation pipeline. Prior to joining KIPP, Jonathan spent over 10 years at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he assisted senior executives of large, complex organizations in addressing strategic, operational, and organizational issues and managing large scale change. As a principal and partner at BCG, Jonathan spent several years helping to build and lead BCG's public education practice. Jonathan has an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a B.S. in applied mathematics from Yale University. Jonathan and his wife, Kris, have two sons, Benjamin and Ryan.
Walt de Petris, Chief Information Officer
Walt joined KIPP in March 2009 as the Chief Information Officer. He comes to the KIPP Foundation after 15 years at Microsoft Corporation where he recently was the General Manager of the Communication Sector Enterprise Services. While at Microsoft he successfully managed $90+M services business with over 200 employees throughout the United States. He worked closely with the top 60 US Telecommunication and Media Entertainment companies to build custom systems, deploy new technologies and create reliable support organizations to meet their business needs. Walt brings a unique blend of technical and management experience to help KIPP meet this year’s critical goals. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and 2 young children. Walt enjoys coaching soccer, baseball and mountaineering. He recently successfully reached the top of North America, Mt. McKinley (20,320ft) so stop by and see his photos from the climb.
Nolan Highbaugh, General Counsel
Nolan joined KIPP following a year and a half of work with the “I Have a Dream” Foundation, Oakland, as a program consultant and tutor. Prior to that he worked as an Associate in the Public Finance Department of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP. Before entering law school, Nolan was a Budget and Policy Analyst for both the Chief Administrative Office of Los Angeles County and the Office of Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. in the City and County of San Francisco. Nolan holds a bachelor’s degree and Master’s in Public Policy from U.C. Berkeley, and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.
John Kanberg, Director, Legal & Sustainability Services
As Director of Legal & Sustainability Services, John works on building systems to ensure operational excellence at KIPP schools. Kanberg joined the Foundation in 2001, shortly after its founding, following a first career as litigation partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. He attended the Columbia University School of Law and earned a BA from Denison University in Granville, Ohio.
Lisa Margosian, Director of Network Growth
As Director of Network Growth, Lisa is responsible for overseeing all school growth in new and existing sites. Lisa works to leverage her over eighteen years of for-profit management experience by supporting aspiring and emerging regions in their growth plans, financial models, and leadership team development. Her functional expertise includes sales, marketing and servicing, and her focus was on rebuilding underperforming businesses. She has an MBA from Columbia University and a BS from Marquette University.
Tina Sachs, Chief Financial Officer
As CFO, Tina is responsible for overseeing the Accounting and Finance functions for the KIPP Foundation. Tina joined KIPP from the Jewish Community Federation where she served as General Fund Controller. She was previously an auditor for Deloitte and Touche focusing on large public retail companies, real estate companies, and non-profits in the Bay Area. Tina has a BA in accountancy from California State University, Northridge. Tina and her husband, John, have two children.
David Wick, Chief Development Officer
As Chief Development Officer, David is responsible for the KIPP Foundation's development operation. In addition, he oversees a number of key fundraising support functions to KIPP schools. Prior to joining KIPP, David served as Managing Director for Capital Giving within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. Prior to his management position, he was a Regional Director for Capital Giving at Harvard and also was an Annual Fund Officer for the University of Chicago. He has a Masters in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a BA from Davidson College. David and his wife, Mieka, have one daughter, Annabelle.
Kelly Wright, Senior Learning Officer
Prior to joining the KIPP Foundation, Kelly founded KIPP Adelante Preparatory Academy in San Diego and was its principal for four years. Under her leadership, KIPP Adelante was named a California Distinguished School in 2006 and received the 2007 National Title I Distinguished School Award in California for most narrowing the achievement gap that year. Kelly has experience teaching in bilingual classrooms from third to eighth grades, and was the Director of Bilingual Programs at a charter school in Phoenix, Arizona. She graduated with a BA from Carleton College in Latin American Studies and holds an EdM from Harvard University in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy. As Senior Learning Officer, Kelly works alongside the KIPP network’s school leaders and aspiring leaders, facilitating opportunities for their professional growth, reflection, and development.
Mike Wright, Director of Regional Leadership Teams Community of Practice
Mike is responsible for supporting the Regional Leadership Teams Community of Practice. In this role, Mike helps KIPP regional leaders and their leadership teams improve their effectiveness in supporting and sustaining high-performing schools in their regions. Mike previously served first as the Director of School Finance, and then Director of Network Growth at the KIPP Foundation, working directly with KIPP school leaders and boards to promote sustainability at the school and network level. Prior to joining KIPP, Mike worked most recently for divisions of Sara Lee Corporation and Levi Strauss & Co. in the capacity of business unit CFO. Mike earned an MBA from DePaul University, and a BS in Finance from the University of Illinois, at Champaign-Urbana.