Kaye E. Savage

Kaye Savage began her career as a certified special education teacher serving low-income students in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Her passion to make a difference led to a position as a Research Analyst at the Urban Institute. She later moved into public service with a focus on local and federal government legislative and programmatic initiatives targeting urban distressed communities. 

Her interest in improving public education opportunities for low income students of color  of those communities was fueled by the continued lack of success of publicly supported initiatives designed to address and remediate an array and increasing number of urban housing, community and economic development needs, despite tremendous public and private investments. No efforts were developed nor resources allocated to address the human capital challenges. Large numbers of students were poorly educated, dropped out of school and were “left behind” creating a growing urban adult population with limited education and no work force readiness skills. Kaye worked in the White House to establish the Historical Black College and Universities (HBCUs) Initiative. Kaye was the founding National Director for the 21st Century School Fund, a national non-profit focused on improving the quality of public school buildings in urban areas and later served as the Program Manager for the District of Columbia Family Education Network, a special parent training initiative of Fight for Children. 

Kaye is the Founder and former CEO of Excel Academy Public Charter School in Washington, D. C., the first and only public school for girls in the District of Columbia. Excel opened in August of 2008 with 134 preschool, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten scholars. In school year 2014-15, Excel served more than 800 preschool through sixth grade scholars. 

Kaye attended Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia, completed her undergraduate education at Howard University, where she also earned a Master’’ of Science degree, with high honors. Kaye was awarded an Intergovernmental Fellowship during her tenure at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and also earned her MPA from the University of Southern California. She recently completed the Executive Non-Profit Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Kaye is a Building Excellent Schools Fellow, a former member of the Board of Trustees for the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, a founding member of the National Network of Schools in Partnerships, and Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees for The United Planning Organization of  Washington, DC.