Kentaro, the son of immigrants from Japan, experienced first-hand the dissonant extremes in our education system, attending failing public schools through 8th grade and then an incredibly resourced private high school on scholarship. These disparate educational experiences highlighted the stark contrast in our schooling system and compelled Kentaro to provide the highest quality education to students furthest from the center, driven by a deep call to equity and social justice. A math teacher at heart with 16 years of classroom experience, Kentaro relentlessly sought out instructional approaches that worked with his students out of a deep sense of desperation. While department head at the fifth lowest performing high school in California, Kentaro increased AP math enrollment by 400% while also increasing passing rates on AP math exams. In 2011, Kentaro was honored to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching at the White House. Kentaro led statewide math initiatives and trained over 2000 math teachers and leaders while director at non-profit ConnectED. He wrote math curriculum used by over 350,000 students for Agile Mind through the Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Kentaro has served as co-chair of Harvard’s Data Wise Network, as a founding member of the Racial Equity Council at the NewSchools Venture Fund, and as adjunct faculty at San Francisco State University. Kentaro is National Board Certified and holds a BA from Stanford, a doctorate in education leadership from Harvard, and a Superintendent’s License from Massachusetts. Most importantly, Kentaro is a husband to an amazing special educator and father to two remarkable teenagers.