Our Work

Proof in the partnerships.

A selected portfolio of executive search, advisory, and strategic planning engagements that we've delivered alongside mission-driven organizations. Each one a different shape of work. Each one a leader still thriving in role.

500

Senior leaders
placed since founding

38

States where
we've worked

80%

Clients who engage in more
work within 2 years

12

Sectors served
across the portfolio

Featured Case Executive Search

KIPP Foundation · National · 2025

Two critical seats, filled without a gap.

KIPP Foundation needed two Regional Superintendents with proven turnaround records, not just central office experience, and could not afford to leave either seat open. Stronger ran two searches at once, narrowing 2,000 applicants to 27 phone-interview candidates and closing both seats in the same month.

2,000

Applicants sourced for the two seats

27

Candidates advanced to phone interview

2

Regional Superintendent seats filled

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The full portfolio.

Engagements across executive search, advisory, fundraising, and academic strategy. Filter by service to see the work most relevant to you.

Executive Search

KIPP Foundation · National · 2025

One national leader for postsecondary outcomes across every region.

KIPP Foundation needed one national leader to unify college counseling and college partnerships before postsecondary outcomes drifted region to region. Stronger delivered a finalist with nearly 14 years of college access leadership, producing unanimous panel agreement and a signed offer within a day of the final review.

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Executive Search

Lighthouse Community Public Schools · East Oakland, CA · 2026

Earning trust before asking East Oakland to change.

Lighthouse Community Public Schools needed a Chief Academic Officer who could raise the academic bar without breaking the trust it had spent years building in East Oakland. Stronger delivered a structured search built around community trust, adaptive leadership, and nearly two decades of the right experience.

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Opportunity 180 · Remote / Multi-State · 2024-2025

Building a stronger candidate pipeline for the Propel Fellowship.

Opportunity 180 engaged Stronger to expand and strengthen recruitment for the Propel Fellowship. Stronger delivered a structured recruitment process, targeted sourcing beyond existing channels, and consistent candidate management from assessment through close.

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Executive Search

Democracy Prep at the Agassi Campus · Las Vegas, NV · 2026

An Executive Director hired on a very short timeline.

Democracy Prep at the Agassi Campus (DPAC) engaged Stronger to run a comprehensive Executive Director search during its transition to an independent state charter. Stronger managed the process from screening through board interviews, and the new Executive Director accepted the role and started June 1, about a week after the final interview.

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Executive Search

Legacy Early College · Greenville, SC · 2023

Rigor and equity at the network level.

When Legacy Early College's founding leader stepped back, the network needed a Chief Schools Officer who could protect its model and keep raising the bar.

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Executive Search

Alliance College-Ready Public Schools Foundation · Los Angeles, CA · 2023

Meeting or exceeding $6M in fundraising goals, every year.

The Alliance Foundation needed a VP of Development to bridge the gap between public funding and the needs of 13,000 scholars. Tiffany Markarian was built for exactly that.

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Executive Search

Teach For America Indianapolis · Indianapolis, IN · 2023

Community trust isn't a credential you can hire for.

Teach For America Indianapolis needed an Executive Director who had already spent two decades earning credibility in the city. The search was designed to find her.

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Executive Search

Chicago Public Schools · Chicago, IL · 2022

One of the most consequential financial roles in American public education.

When Chicago Public Schools needed a new Controller during a period of restructuring, credentials alone weren't enough; they needed a career.

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Executive Search

EL Education · National · 2022

The communicator whose personal story is the mission.

EL Education needed a Director of Communications who didn't just understand the mission, someone who had lived it. Finding that person required more than a job posting.

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Executive Search

KIPP Colorado Public Schools · Denver, CO · 2022

A high-confidence people leadership decision at a pivotal moment.

KIPP Colorado was scaling quickly and needed a chief people leader to build the talent infrastructure to match its mission, before the gaps became problems.

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Executive Search

EL Education · National · 2021

When growth demands a fundraiser who can build, not just manage.

EL Education was expanding fast nationally. It needed a development leader who could build the fundraising capacity to match, not just steward what already existed.

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Executive Search

Alliance College-Ready Public Schools · Los Angeles, CA · 2019

The search that grew into something bigger.

Alliance hired a Director of School Counseling in 2019. Six years later, that leader oversees college access and success for 13,000 scholars across 26 schools in Los Angeles.

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Executive Search

Rooted School Foundation · South Carolina · 2024

Finding a mission-aligned executive leader to drive growth in South Carolina.

Rooted School South Carolina partnered with Stronger on a high-stakes executive search during a period of growth. Stronger ran a structured, mission-first process to find a leader aligned with the organization's values and student-centered model, and the placement quickly exceeded expectations.

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Alliance College-Ready Public Schools · Los Angeles, CA · 2025-2026

Building a stronger leadership pipeline for hard-to-fill principal roles.

Alliance, one of Los Angeles's largest charter networks, partnered with Stronger during a period of post-pandemic transition to strengthen principal recruitment, expand market understanding, and clarify hiring expectations for turnaround school leadership.

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Austin Achieve Public Schools · Austin, TX · 2020-2021

Stabilizing and scaling a fundraising operation for a growing charter school network.

Austin Achieve partnered with Stronger during a critical fundraising inflection point. With the Chief Advancement Officer going on leave amid ambitious expansion plans, Stronger provided interim management, a comprehensive systems audit, and donor portfolio strategy to keep the development engine running and ready for scale.

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Faith Acts for Education · Bridgeport, CT · 2023

Helping FaithActs build the fundraising infrastructure to sustain a growing education justice movement.

FaithActs, a faith-based, Black-led grassroots education advocacy organization, partnered with Stronger to close a $700K funding gap and build the systems to sustain its movement. The work shifted fundraising from reactive gap-closing toward a sustainable, relationship-driven development model.

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Lighthouse Community Public Charter Schools · Oakland, CA · 2025

Building a transparent, equitable compensation structure for a growing charter network.

Lighthouse partnered with Stronger to redesign its compensation architecture across 131 staff members. The engagement delivered a streamlined framework grounded in market data and internal equity, plus a Total Rewards Communication Toolkit equipping leaders to communicate compensation decisions with clarity and consistency.

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Mary Black Foundation · Spartanburg, SC · 2025

Designing a transparent compensation strategy for a regional foundation.

Mary Black Foundation engaged Stronger to build a compensation framework specific to its regional context, replacing a generic national benchmark with role-aligned salary bands across nine positions. The engagement delivered a comparator dataset of 12 peer organizations, board-approved salary bands for FY2025, and a structured implementation plan.

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Aggregate Impact

The numbers across the portfolio.

Behind every case study is a leader still in the role, a team still building, and an organization closer to its mission. Here's what the work adds up to.

94%

Year-2 retention

76%

Leaders of color placed

80%

Clients who engage in more work within 2 years

90day

Average search to placement

Your Engagement, Next.

Every case study started with a first conversation.

If you see your organization in the work above, start with a complimentary consultation. No pitch, no pressure. Just an honest read on whether Stronger is the right partner.

Schedule a complimentary consultation 30-minute exploratory call

Explore our search practice Executive and school leader search

Explore our advisory practice Strategy, talent, fundraising, and program