Kara Stimpson

A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in both Education and English, Kara went on to earn her Masters in Educational Leadership from Kennesaw State University and then her Educational Specialist degree from Georgia State University.  She began her career as a high school and middle school English teacher, teaching in North Carolina and Georgia, before moving into educational leadership positions: serving as a Dean of Students, Director of Studies, a school district central office leader, and Assistant Principal.  In 2014, Ms. Stimpson landed her first principal position where she is credited with overhauling the elementary school’s special education program, launching a dual language immersion program, and leading the school to become the top performing elementary school in the district. 

4 years later, she was asked to take over a middle school as a turnaround principal.  In this role, she is credited with increasing enrollment, decreasing suspensions, and improving academics, resulting in the school closing achievement gaps and being removed from the state’s turnaround list.  After 7 years as a successful principal, Ms. Stimpson decided to pursue a role in the nonprofit sector to see how she could serve the community outside of the schoolhouse.  Becoming the Chief Impact Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta, she created and launched an innovative program model to bring daily mentoring by trained staff into middle schools, growing youth served by over 40% in one year, resulting in BBBSMA being the fastest growing agency out over 200 nationwide.  Ms. Stimpson believes that by innovating and collaborating, we have the power to make transformative changes that benefit all individuals in our society.