Kathleen Richardson is the Development Director at Youth Guidance Greater Seattle, working in partnership to expand Becoming A Man (BAM) across Highline Public Schools. With two decades in education, public policy, and nonprofit leadership, she is known for scaling programs, building cross‑sector coalitions, and delivering measurable results for students and families.

Previously, Kathleen served as Director of Business Development (executive team) at TPI‑US, driving national growth for an organization that reviews 300+ teacher preparation programs in 24 states. She raised $12.6M in new business, growing annual revenue from $2.5M to $8M in 24 months. She also led statewide improvement efforts with two education agencies: at the Texas Education Agency (TEA), she managed a pilot shifting educator‑prep approval from compliance to continuous improvement; with the Delaware Department of Education, she managed a new program approval and modification process.

A two-time Executive Director, at Pike Market Childcare & Preschool, Kathleen led a 30‑person team and an equity‑centered, sliding‑scale early‑learning model through a period of transition. At Urban Teachers—Baltimore, she transitioned the site from a centrally run staff of 2 to a city‑based team of 30 in six months, expanded school partnerships by 80%, and grew the resident‑teacher cohort by 60% to train 200 teachers and serve 6,000 students.

Kathleen served as Chief of Staff for a leader in the Maryland House of Delegates. In that role, she helped steer the veto‑proof passage of House Bill 1 – the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act, the culmination of a five‑year campaign by 160 organizations that extended earned sick leave to more than 700,000 Marylanders. Earlier roles include designing the national America Achieves Fellowship for Teachers and Principals; serving in the central office at Baltimore City Public Schools; teaching kindergarten in a nationally recognized turnaround school in southeast Baltimore; and working in the Maryland Governor’s Office on Obama Administrations’ $250 million dollar Race to the Top investment—supporting development of the state’s educator evaluation system and PK–20 data system.

Richardson earned a B.A. from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), holds a Teacher Certification from Johns Hopkins University, and received an M.P.P. in management, leadership, and finance from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy.

Mashana Smith

Mashana Smith

Chair, Program Strategy Committee

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