Sr. Kathleen Carr, C.S.J., Ph.D.

Sr. Kathleen Carr, C.S.J., is the Senior Director for Partnerships for the Alliance for Catholic Education. Since coming to ACE in 2011, she has served the organization as the Director of Planning and Operations and Senior Adviser.

With more than 35 years of experience in Catholic education leadership positions, Sr. Kathleen began her ministry as an elementary school principal. She served at the archdiocesan level as an assistant superintendent responsible for 38 inner-city schools, as the inaugural Director of Marketing and Public Relations, and as Superintendent of Schools in the Archdiocese of Boston from 2000-2005.

Following her successful tenure as superintendent and just prior to coming to ACE, she was a senior educational consultant in a private firm leading strategic planning processes for Catholic schools in dioceses across the country.

Sr. Kathleen currently supervises the American Indian Catholic Schools Network (AICSN), the Center for Transformational Educational Leadership (CTEL), the Notre Dame ACE Academies, and the Catholic School Teacher Leader (CASTLE) project.

Prior to those responsibilities, she oversaw the ACE Haiti team which in 2016 raised more than $13 million from USAID and private foundations to scale its highly effective early-grade literacy program in Catholic schools in Haiti. Beginning in the fall of 2017, and in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the Haitian Catholic Church, and the Congregation of Holy Cross, the ACE Haiti team is implementing this program in 340 schools in five regions of Haiti. In 2011-2012, Sr. Kathleen had a key leadership role in ACE’s national census and mapping of 2,300 Haitian Catholic schools in 2012. This work resulted in a program to strengthen regional primary and secondary school teacher-training and school governance.

Sr. Kathleen has vast experience serving on school boards, leading and participating in executive leadership search processes, mentoring central office leaders, and serving as an executive coach for ACE’s Remick Leadership Program.

She holds a M.Ed. in Administration and Supervision at Boston College and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from The Catholic University of America, and an Honorary Degree: Doctor of Humane Letters, conferred by Boston College.