Lesley Poole serves as the chief executive officer for The SEED Foundation. She is responsible for the overall health and vitality of SEED’s network of three public, college-preparatory boarding schools and SEED’s mission-critical college success programming.
Lesley was one of the founding faculty at The SEED School of Washington, D.C., and held a number of positions during her tenure. At The SEED Foundation, Lesley’s expertise in government relations and philanthropy was instrumental in securing the public-private partnerships necessary in Annapolis, MD, and Tallahassee, FL, to make The SEED School of Maryland and The SEED School of Miami possible.
Lesley began her career in education as a mathematics instructor and later served as the service area director for the school division of San Francisco Educational Services (SFED), where she oversaw five programs for children with special needs. She holds two bachelor’s degrees – one from San Francisco State University in chemistry and one from Patten College in organizational management.
Lesley is a member of the spring 2017 cohort of Pahara-Aspen Fellows, which seeks to strengthen and sustain diverse, high-potential leaders who are reimagining public education. She is also a fellow with Seeding Disruption, a fellowship that brings together a diverse group of Washington, D.C.’s, senior leaders to generate, seed, and catalyze disruptive practices for the purpose of dismantling systems of racial inequity. Lesley serves on the board of Educare, an early childhood education school and community center in Washington, D.C.’s, Ward 7, as well as Excellence Christian School, located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.