Jann Coles, Ph. D.

Dr. Jann Coles is a leadership development consultant for education, business and non-profit organizations and co-founder and Chief Program Officer for the National Principals Leadership Institute. She is also director of the School Innovation and Change Awards program and conducts school reviews as an outside education expert for the New York State Department of Education. As a former Superintendent for the New York City Department of Education Office of Adult and Continuing Education (OACE), Dr. Coles transformed the Office, which served 40,000 students, from “unacceptable” to “proficient” status. Recently, Dr. Coles designed a leadership program for the Forrest City, AR School District and provided leadership training for the Regional Directors of AUSL, a Chicago-based school turnaround organization.

Dr. Coles earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and a Masters Degree in Adult Education and Human Development from Fordham University. She received a Fine Arts Degree from New York University. Prior to joining OACE, Dr. Coles was the National Director of Principal Support and Coaching for New Leaders for New Schools, a national aspiring principal program.

Preceding New Leaders, Dr. Coles led a failing urban secondary school (grades 6-12) from the worst in New York State to achieving exemplary status and facilitated the design teams for many new and restructured schools. She designed and conducted leadership training programs in various school districts and business organizations across the country and abroad; and as a manager of corporate education at Colgate-Palmolive Company, co-founded Partners for Leadership, a school/business principal development program, and created Citywide Shadow Day, a program which introduces middle school students to the world of work.

Dr. Coles is currently an adjunct professor at Hunter College in New York City and previously taught at Fordham University Graduate School of Education and Baruch College in New York City, where she developed courses in leadership, change and diversity. She is a winner of the School and Business Alliance Corporate Partnership Award, the Middle Schools Association Award, and the Harlem Black Achievers in Industry Award.