Brett Kimmel

Brett Kimmel is a life-long educator, non-profit executive leader and consultant. Most recently he was KIPP Miami’s Founding Executive Director. In this role, he led KIPP’s newest region and network of schools which grew since its inception in 2018 to four schools, grades K – 8 and over 1,000 students. Prior to joining KIPP Brett was Chief Program Officer, College Access and Success, at America Achieves where he led CollegePoint, a national Bloomberg Philanthropies’ backed initiative designed to significantly move the needle on the number of high performing low- and moderate-income students attending the best colleges in the country. From 2006-2015 Brett was founding principal of Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School (WHEELS), a high performing New York City public school. In 2014 President Barack Obama highlighted the success of WHEELS in two speeches, including the State of the Union Address. From 2002-2006, Brett was Assistant Principal at Intermediate School 143 in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. Prior to that, he was Project Director at New York University’s Metropolitan Center for Urban Education. Brett is a Teach for America alumnus and taught 5th grade in Houston, Texas. He holds a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Political Science from University of Michigan and a Master’s Degree in Education Administration from New York University. Brett was a 2010 Cahn Fellow for Distinguished New York City Principals at Teachers’ College and in 2015 he completed an America Achieves Principals’ Fellowship. He has previously served on the Boards of Directors of Blue Engine, Inc. and One Goal New York, and Brett currently serves on the Board of Directors of Friends of WHEELS. Brett was featured in Wendy Kopp’s book A Chance to Make History and he and WHEELS have been profiled on NBC’s Today Show and in The New York Times.