Colette Owens, an educational leader from St. Louis, will be the new executive director of Hiawatha Academies, the charter school network's board announced Friday.
Owens, an educator and administrator for 15 years, will succeed Eli Kramer, who will step down from the position on June 15 — six years after leading one of Minneapolis' most successful charter school networks.
"We are excited to welcome Ms. Owens to the Hiawatha family," said board chair Margarita Dimas Cultu.
Owens began her career as a special education teacher and held several senior positions for Teach for America-St. Louis, where she focused on teacher leadership development, strategic planning and aligning the organization's priorities and structures, a news release said.
She was then interim director of curriculum and director of strategy and special projects for St. Louis Public Schools before being named executive director for Hiawatha Academies.
"I'm looking forward to building on Hiawatha's strengths and working on improving our areas of growth," she said.
"Addressing the opportunity gaps that exist for students in Minneapolis will be my biggest challenge."
Hiawatha Academies is a network of high-performing K-12 college preparatory charter schools in south Minneapolis. The network doubled from two schools to four in the last six years, and during its 10-year anniversary this year will be creating a new high school, opening a second middle school and preparing to see the first graduating class cross the stage in 2019.