Kris Kurtenbach, Founding Partner

Kris Kurtenbach, founding partner, is devoted to developing collaborative solutions to education, workforce, and community challenges. She works with leading individuals andphilanthropic and education organizations at the federal, national, state, community, and school-district levels to achieve their goals through superior research; planning and design; meeting facilitation and convenings; strategic consulting and positioning; and outreach and community engagement.

Kurtenbach founded Collaborative Communications Group on the belief that civic leaders and civic stakeholders can mobilize the ongoing political will of communities to demand and support high-performing public education systems and solutions. To this end, Kurtenbach designs and builds community-based organizations, and creates and supports strategies for engagement across various sectors of a community. Her work includes the creation of tools for conversation, facilitation of neighborhood and cross-sector conversations, and strategic advice, coaching, and consultation. In addition, Kurtenbach has helped school districts create community-based visions for success and then developed plans to achieve those visions. Her work also includes initiative support to national school reform networks that seek to integrate community engagement and mobilization efforts into project plans.

Kurtenbach’s experience includes communications strategy and implementation, facilitation and writing, and strategic and organizational consulting to foundations, nonprofits, policymakers, education leaders, andcommunity leaders. She has worked extensively with federal and state policymakers as well as municipal and education leaders cities and towns across the country. She has consulted and written extensively on education and publication engagement for the Annenberg Institute for School Reform; Council of Chief State School Officers; National Art Education Association; National Association of Elementary School Principals; National Center on Education and the Economy; National League of Cities; Public Education Network, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Kurtenbach has a Master's degree in education policy and administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in magazine journalism and a Bachelor's of Arts degree in literature from the University of Kansas.