Kara Maguire

Kara Maguire serves as our Senior Fellow, Services. Kara is a senior people and operations leader with nearly two decades of experience driving organizational effectiveness, talent strategy, and culture in mission-driven education nonprofits. Most recently, she served as Chief of Staff at Ednovate, where she partnered with the CEO and executive team to launch new schools, expand a virtual program, and grow staff retention. Kara also led cross-functional teams in talent, HR, external affairs, and legal, strengthening systems to support 2,800 students and nearly 400 staff.

Previously, Kara was Vice President of People at Aspire Public Schools, overseeing human capital strategy across California and Memphis. She also spent seven years at Uncommon Schools in New York, where she advanced to Senior Director of Talent, managing large-scale recruitment and performance systems for a network of 800+ hires annually. Kara began her career as a Teach For America corps member in Los Angeles.

Kara holds a B.A. in Business Leadership from the University of Puget Sound and an M.A. in Elementary Education from Loyola Marymount University. She has served as Board Chair of Libertas College Prep and currently serves on the Children, Youth, and Family Committee at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena.