Founder and CEO, Diversity in Leadership

Dr. McGowan-Robinson began the work of mentoring and retaining diverse school leaders while serving in the role of Senior Vice President of Regional Advocacy and later as Chief Operating Officer at the California Charter Schools Association, which later spun off the Diversity in Leadership Institute into its own 501(c)(3). Before serving as the group’s COO, McGowan-Robinson founded and served as Executive Director of Crown Preparatory Academy, a middle school in South Los Angeles, which is now part of the STEM Prep Schools network. A life-long educator, McGowan-Robinson began her teaching career as a Chicago Public Schools teacher before moving west and becoming a high school English teacher and literacy coach with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Dr. McGowan-Robinson earned her Bachelor’s degree in English/Rhetoric from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Master’s Degree in Instructional Leadership in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her doctorate in Educational Leadership for Social Justice from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.