Leadership

Rhonda Kalifey-Aluise

CEO

Rhonda Kalifey-Aluise is the Chief Executive Officer of KIPP New Orleans Schools, where she leads a network of thirteen institutions serving over 6,300 students, representing over 13% of the city’s public school population. As a founding board member, Rhonda played an instrumental role in launching KIPP’s inaugural school in June 2005. In the face of adversity caused by Hurricane Katrina, she demonstrated resilience by establishing a new school in Houston to support displaced New Orleans residents. Since assuming the role of Executive Director in 2007, Rhonda has steered KIPP’s remarkable growth, transforming it from two schools to its current prominence as one of New Orleans’ premier charter organizations. Under her dynamic leadership, KIPP New Orleans Schools have consistently achieved significant academic progress, with notable distinctions including the most substantial annual SPS growth statewide twice since 2008 and the remarkable accumulation of over $110M in college scholarships by graduating seniors over the past nine years. Rhonda’s unwavering dedication to education reform was recognized with the prestigious Peter Jennings Award for Civic Leadership in 2012, underscoring her tireless commitment to enhancing educational opportunities in the city.

Rooted in her passion for education, Rhonda commenced her professional journey with Teach for America, where she taught Reading and English for two years before expanding her teaching career in Virginia and Lafayette, LA. A proud alumna of Tulane University, she holds a BA in English and History (1992), further augmented by degrees from the University of Virginia (M. Ed., 1997) and the University of New Orleans (MA in English, 2002). Rhonda’s scholarly focus has centered on empowering students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders, reflecting her enduring dedication to fostering inclusive and equitable education practices.

Todd Purvis

Chief Academic Officer

Todd Purvis drives academic excellence as Chief Academic Officer of KIPP New Orleans Schools. His strategic vision focuses on personalized learning to unlock every student’s potential, aiming to increase mastery levels across all subjects. Todd’s innovative approach combines cutting-edge classroom techniques with targeted support, ensuring each student has the opportunity to excel. His leadership has been instrumental in KIPP New Orleans’ impressive achievements, including record-breaking scholarship awards for high school graduates and consistent growth in school performance scores.

Katie Walmsley

Chief Financial Officer

Katie Walmsley is the Chief Financial Officer of KIPP New Orleans Schools where she is accountable for an operating budget of over $110 million that supports over 900 employees across the school support center and 13 schools, serving over 6200 students. Under Katie’s leadership, KNOS has navigated both a budgetary contraction in the wake of pandemic-related financial uncertainty and then a large expansion in budgetary, procurement, accounting, and grant operations as the organization utilized federal relief funds. Katie’s teams have scaled their operations such that tens of millions of additional dollars could be invested in our staff and across broad initiatives for our students and schools while adhering to an increasingly complex compliance landscape. KNOS has enjoyed eight consecutive years of audit reports without deficiencies in internal controls or instances of non-compliance, the past six of which have been within Katie’s tenure.

Prior, Katie served as Finance and Administrative Officer of Teach For America-Greater New Orleans where she led efforts to fund operations by aligning the priorities of funders with TFA’s strategy, bringing over 1200 education leaders to Greater New Orleans. Earlier in her career, Ms. Walmsley joined the founding team of KODA, a web-based talent recruitment startup, raising seed capital, growing registered users to one hundred thousand, and spearheading online marketing, communications and product redesign. Earlier in her career, she held managerial positions in finance and operations at McMaster-Carr, a large supplier to commercial facilities worldwide, increasing productivity and managing quality and profitability. Katie began working in education to advance access to opportunity and equity in the city of New Orleans. Through her work on the Board of Directors of Propeller from 2011 to 2017, she oversaw the launch of their Accelerator programs and incubation of 100+ ventures tackling social and environmental disparities. From 2017 to 2023, she served on the Board of Directors of College Beyond, which helps New Orleans youth enroll and succeed in college. Ms. Walmsley was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics.

Diana Archuleta

Managing Director of Talent & Human Resources

Mark Burton

Managing Director of Organizational Strategy and Systems

Jenny Dennis Carey

Managing Director - Primary School

Towana Pierre-Floyd

Managing Director - High School

Francis Giesler

Managing Director - Middle School

Ashley Daniels-Hall

Managing Director of Impact

Alicia Henderson

Managing Director of Student Support