NACSA’s Board of Directors is thrilled to announce that Guerschmide Saint-Ange, NACSA’s Chief Operating Officer, has been appointed as Interim CEO following the departure of Karega Rausch.
Guerschmide’s extensive leadership at NACSA and within several prominent education organizations positions her to shepherd NACSA through this chapter in our 25-year legacy as the guiding light for charter school authorizing. Before joining NACSA, Guerschmide served as a charter school executive director, successfully turning around its academic outcomes and operational effectiveness. She also spent several years as a senior leader in external relations at a large charter management organization before leading a charter authorizing team in New York City.
“We could not be more excited to continue to benefit from Guerschmide’s strong and steady leadership at NACSA as our Interim CEO,” said Ebony Lee, NACSA Board President. “Her work as Chief Operations Officer has ensured day-to-day operational excellence, strengthened organizational processes and infrastructure, and built many elements of organizational strategy. Her vision and experienced leadership will continue to advance NACSA’s mission.”
NACSA’s Board is enlisting an executive search firm to conduct a comprehensive, nationwide search for a new CEO. During that process, Guerschmide’s leadership will equip NACSA with steady guidance, direction, and management, informed by her deep institutional knowledge and expertise in the education sector.
“Throughout my career as an organizational leader, I’ve remained, at heart, an educator first. I joined NACSA nearly 5 years ago because I know every child deserves to have access to a quality school in their neighborhood, and I believe in NACSA’s vital role ensuring that this happens at scale,” said Guerschmide Saint-Ange. “I look forward to leading NACSA and to working with our authorizers to continue to fuel a community-centered school choice movement where quality schools are expected and delivered to all children across the country.”
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Karega Rausch, NACSA’s President & CEO, has accepted an exciting new role as the Executive Director of the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation (IPEC). We are grateful for Karega’s contributions and strong leadership.
We are also announcing the transition of Elisa Westapher, Chief Development & Business Officer. We are immensely grateful for all of Elisa’s work, ensuring that NACSA remains strong and sustainable and we are looking forward to her next chapter.
We appreciate both Karega and Elisa’s more than a decade-long commitment to NACSA and bettering the conditions of charter school authorizing, leading to more great schools for so many kids.
This transition will happen over several months and during that time NACSA will continue to build on its more than 25-year legacy as the guiding light for charter school authorizing. The talented and capable staff will continue delivering on the high-quality work you’ve come to know NACSA for, including our annual leadership conference, NACSACon.
We’re grateful for your partnership in this work.
