Stella M. Kemp, Ed. D

Dr. Stella M. Kemp is a Northern California-based educational leader and consultant with more than 35 years of experience in public education across Texas and California, including small rural, suburban, and medium-to-large school districts. A former teacher, site and district administrator, and retired California superintendent, Dr. Kemp has led organizations through strategic planning, fiscal recovery, educational systems transformation, facilities and bond planning, and efforts to close achievement and opportunity gaps. Her executive experience includes serving as Superintendent of Santa Clara Unified School District and San Bruno Park School District, as well as Assistant Superintendent of Business Operations for San Ramon Valley Unified School District, where she oversaw a $430 million annual budget and district operations. She has also led major facilities and bond initiatives, including oversight of $1.1 billion in school construction and bond projects, and currently provides executive coaching and consulting to TK–12 districts and cabinet-level leaders.

Dr. Kemp’s leadership approach centers on aligning vision, governance, resources, people, and systems around clearly defined outcomes for students and communities. She has used strategic planning, long-range financial planning, equity-based budgeting, community and stakeholder engagement, leadership development, data and accountability systems, and continuous systems improvement to achieve results. She lead the first nationwide work to align district systems, conceiving the development of integrated Portraits of the Learner, Adult and Systems and long-range district roadmaps. She has facilitating facilities master planning and bond strategies, redesigning operational and contract-management systems, strengthening leadership pipelines, and aligning LCAP, instructional priorities, and budgets. She is particularly skilled at bringing diverse stakeholders together to build understanding, establish shared priorities, and create sustainable systems for implementation. Her community-centered approach has also resulted in successful partnerships and grant support from local foundations and businesses, including YouTube, the Gates Foundation, and the Packard Foundation.

Dr. Kemp’s consulting practice focuses on executive leadership and coaching, strategic planning, Board/Superintendent leadership, organizational and systems transformation, fiscal sustainability and budget stabilization, facilities and bond planning, school consolidation, governance training, leadership development, and community and stakeholder engagement. She brings particular expertise to districts navigating financial challenges, organizational change, facilities planning, equity and opportunity gaps, and the alignment of educational priorities with resources and operations. Her experience also includes teaching and learning, assessment and accountability, special education and inclusion, English language development, early learning, professional learning systems, and the development of future school leaders. As an International Coaching Federation-certified executive and organizational leadership coach, Dr. Kemp is interested in consulting engagements that strengthen leadership capacity, improve organizational effectiveness, align systems and resources to student outcomes, and help Boards and district leaders move from vision to sustainable implementation.