The Stronger Podcast

Dr. Aidé Acosta went from a first-generation college student navigating higher education without a map to the Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at National Louis University. Her guiding line comes from her Sinaloan roots: like a turtle, she carries home on her back, and she has built her career making sure students never have to leave theirs behind. In this episode of The Str...

Bobby Blount has served on the Northside ISD school board for 27 years, and he has spent every one of them refusing to get distracted from the one thing that matters: whether kids actually have a shot. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Bobby Blount, a Northside Independent School District trustee, President of the Texas Caucus of Black School Board Members, and a...

Relational intelligence may be the one advantage humans keep as AI gets smarter, and Dr. Jennifer Brown has spent 25 years proving it builds stronger teams. A regional superintendent at the KIPP Foundation, she coaches CEOs and executive directors on what really makes a team work. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Dr. Jennifer Brown, Regional Superintendent at th...

Ashley Heard has spent eight years making the case for intentionally diverse charter schools, and she is more convinced than ever that they matter right now. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Ashley Heard, Development and External Affairs Lead at the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition, for a conversation that is about much more than charter schools. It is about wh...

Education leader Erik Greenberg never planned to work in schools. Now, as CEO of Academies of Math and Science, he argues that the answer to America's education problem is not innovation. It is relationships, retention, and the slow work of building community schools in the neighborhoods that need them most. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Erik, CEO of Academie...

From classroom teacher to founder of a cradle to career movement, Dominique Lee built the BRICK Education Network in Newark to do what schools alone never could: support a child and their family from before birth all the way through a career. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Dominique Lee, founder and CEO of BRICK Education Network, to talk about what it actuall...

Ethan Ashley got handcuffed at a police precinct at age six for stealing a pack of gum. He went on to finish high school at sixteen, earn a law degree from Howard by twenty-two, win an elected school board seat, and build a national organization that trains the people deciding what happens in your kid's classroom. His throughline: his story should have been the rule, not the exception. In this epi...

Catherine Suitor has spent two decades proving that schools can get better at scale, and she has the data to back it up.   As Executive Director of the Alliance College-Ready Public Schools Foundation, Catherine has helped Alliance grow into one of the largest and most successful nonprofit charter networks in the country, serving 13,000 scholars across 26 schools in Los Angeles. When Alliance open...

Charter school leader Sonia Park spent her childhood as one of the only kids of color in suburban Philadelphia schools, then watched her own son experience the same othering thirty years later in New York City. She runs the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition because belonging is not a side issue. It is the thing that determines whether kids can thrive. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike...

Scaling a 48-year-old national nonprofit takes more than vision. It takes a CEO and COO who trust each other enough to move fast in ambiguity. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Vincent Marigna and Alex Serna, the CEO and COO of Breakthrough Collaborative, a national organization that serves more than 11,000 middle school through college students each summer and e...

Marcia Aaron leads Charter School Growth Fund's investments across Texas, Arizona, Idaho, and Utah, and before that, she spent thirteen years building KIPP SoCal Public Schools from two schools to twenty-two as its founding CEO. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Marcia for a conversation about the three things she is most passionate about, and why each one connec...

Keisha Gray sits down with Mike Montoya to make the case that cross sector collaboration is not a value statement, it is a muscle communities build out of necessity. And that operational excellence is how missions actually survive.   In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Keisha Gray, Chief Operations Officer at the Spartanburg Academic Movement. SAM is a cradle to ca...

Vanessa Rodriguez, Executive Vice President of People at the Pahara Institute at Lone Rock, has spent her career building systems that give young people a fair shot, from District 79 in New York City to a national fellowship designed to keep education leaders in the work longer.   In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Vanessa to talk about what it actually takes to s...

Former Akron Public Schools superintendent Dr. David W. James never planned to work in education. He started at NASA, moved into environmental consulting, and ended up leading a school district for 13 years by accident.   In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with David, now executive director of Summit Education Initiative, to talk about what it takes to move the needle...

Tricia Noyola is a charter school leader, Regional Superintendent at the KIPP Foundation, and former CEO of Rocky Mountain Prep who builds schools as love letters to the communities they serve.   In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Tricia to talk about bold leadership, identity, and what it really means to build schools that serve their communities.  Tricia traces...

Charter school leader Scott Hindman went from minor league baseball to investment banking to building one of New Mexico's most impactful public education networks. The lesson he keeps coming back to: find great people, give them the runway to lead, and play the long game.   In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Scott, Executive Director of Excellent Schools New Mexic...

From teaching fourth grade in Compton to founding a KIPP elementary school in Newark, Joanna Belcher has spent her career building schools and supporting leaders who believe every student deserves opportunity.  In this episode of The Stronger Podcast , Mike Montoya sits down with Joanna Belcher, Regional Superintendent at the KIPP Foundation, to discuss the leadership lessons she has learned along...

What happens when the path your family imagined for you isn’t the one you’re meant to follow?   From being the son of Filipino immigrants in Brooklyn to a leader shaping talent and social impact across education, Ron Rapatalo shares a powerful story about resilience, purpose, and the relationships that shape our lives.  Growing up in Brooklyn and Queens, Ron experienced both the challenges and ing...

From Army Blackhawk pilot to transformative education leader, James Willcox shares how a life grounded in service and family shaped his path to reshaping K-12 education nationwide. From marrying his college best friend at 22, raising 3 daughters while serving in the military, and pursuing graduate studies at Stanford, James’ story is a masterclass in balancing personal milestones with professional...

From Boston to East San Jose, Shara Hegde shares her journey from Ivy League graduate to CEO of Alpha Public Schools and what it takes to lead charter schools through political and organizational complexity. Raised between the United States and India, Shara reflects on how her immigrant family background shaped her commitment to education equity and first-generation college access.  After pivoting...

What if the promise that each generation will do better than the last is slipping away? In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya talks with Bill Crim, CEO of United Way of Salt Lake and Utah’s Promise, about economic mobility and what it really takes to align communities around cradle to career outcomes. Bill shares how cross sector collaboration, policy advocacy, and collective impac...

From lifelong immigrant to education equity leader, Daniel Velasco shares how identity, resilience, and compassion shaped his journey to becoming President and CEO of Ensemble Learning and a national voice for multilingual learners. Born in Lima, Peru and raised across Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru before settling in the United States, Daniel learned early how to adapt in order to belong. As a chi...

From Bronx roots to shaping the future of public education: Jessica Sutter shares how a life grounded in service, trust, and intellectual rigor led her from the classroom to national education policy and consulting. Jessica is an education leader and consultant based in Washington, D.C., whose career spans teaching, charter school leadership, policy, and research.  Raised in a large Catholic famil...

From sixth-grade math teacher to superintendent to leadership coach — Kelli Marshall shares how data-driven courage, deep relationships, and a clear “why” can transform schools and the people who lead them. Kelli Marshall, a proud Indianapolis native and IU Bloomington graduate, has spent her career shaping education across Indiana. Growing up near Butler University and attending Indianapolis Publ...

From a childhood shaped by instability to a career dedicated to building pathways of opportunity, The Stronger Podcast host, Mike Montoya, shares how resilience, education, and supportive adults can change the trajectory of a life and an entire generation. Mike, a consultant with Stronger Consulting, reflects on growing up in 1970s Colorado Springs as the son of a barber and a homemaker, rooted in...