« Pahara Aspen Fellow Preston Smith on Developing Leadership Capacity »

In Chapter 14 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, elementary charter school network CEO Preston Smith answers "How Did Your Aspen Institute Fellowship Contribute to Your Professional Development?" Selected into the Pahara Fellowship leader development program at the Aspen Institute, Smith joins a cohort of entrepreneurial education leaders. There, he learns via peer self-refections that help him identify ways to improve how he leads his life and his organization. Preston Smith is co-founder and CEO of Rocketship Education, the highest performing low-income school system in California. After graduating the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Smith joined Teach for America. After three years teaching 1st Grade, he founded a district school in San Jose and became its principal. Smith was selected as a member of the 2010 class of Aspen Institute New Schools Fellows.