Phyllis Lockett

Phyllis is CEO of LEAP Innovations, an education technology hub in Chicago connecting educators and tech companies from across the nation to research, pilot, and scale instructional technology solutions that advance teaching and learning from early childhood through early college.

Before starting LEAP, Phyllis was a driving force behind Chicago’s charter movement. As founding president and CEO of New Schools for Chicago, she helped raise more than $70 million to support opening 80 new public schools, primarily charters. Her work more than tripled the number of charter schools and drove Chicago’s first magnet school replication. For nearly a decade, she focused on bringing quality public schools to communities of high need and advocating for school choice.

She previously served as executive director of the Civic Consulting Alliance (CCA), a pro bono consulting firm for government agencies, and held marketing, sales and business development roles with Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, Kraft Foods and General Mills.

Born and raised on Chicago’s south side, Phyllis is a graduate of the Chicago Public School system, and both of her parents were Chicago Public Schools teachers. She earned a Master of Management degree from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University.