Kelly Bowers

ABOUT KELLY BOWERS

As Superintendent of Schools emeritus for the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District and current CEO/President of Three Valleys Community Foundation, Dr. Kelly Bowers brings a solid research-base as well as extensive executive leadership experience and expertise in strategic planning, resource procurement and management, and systems building for equity and sustainability in both the public and nonprofit sector.

Dr. Bowers is an award-winning scholar-practitioner, with a proven track record of advocacy on behalf of the traditionally underserved. She has successfully spearheaded and led district-wide and community-based initiatives designed to disrupt the status quo, champion social causes, and combat myriad socio-economic inequities. Her strategic advising and coaching services add a unique and critical element to Renne Public Management Group’s (RPMG’s) consultant offerings.

Her specialty areas of focus include:

Superintendent / district or site-level administrator coaching, mentoring and training
Onboarding of new superintendent or board member
Governance Team (board and superintendent) visioning and strategic planning
Community engagement through collaborative governance and consensus building
Core-values based negotiating
Leading transformational and sustainable systemic reform
Resource procurement through passage of bond and parcel tax measures
Enhancing workplace dynamics and culture
Policy development and implementation
Inquiry-based, data-based and collaborative decisionmaking
Team leadership and human capital development
Crisis prevention, management and response
Reputation management
Activating student voice to empower youth and achieve equity
Cultivating and embedding an organizational growth mindset
Relational trustbuilding in political settings

Whether facilitating an interactive workshop or governance team retreat, serving as a thought partner, sounding board, mentor or coach, Dr. Bowers empowers clients by guiding them through an in-depth reflective problem-solving process and/or root-cause analysis, identifying target goals, areas of growth and unique contextual challenge, and drawing upon individual and organizational strengths to customize solutions and effect positive change.

Prior to joining RPMG, Dr. Bowers worked for 34+ years in TK-12 public education:12 years in the capacity of elementary, middle and high school teacher/teacher leader and department chair in both urban and suburban settings, and 22 years in site and district-level administration. Bowers also served as Superintendent in Residence for the inaugural cohort of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education Leaders for Equity and Democracy doctoral program. During her 12-year tenure as Superintendent of Schools, her District earned recognition as a Bay Area Top Workplace multiple times, and schools and specialized educational programs earned accolades at the local, regional, State and national level. Her work in social emotional learning / youth mental health and wellness made her District a national model, bringing in millions of dollars in federal grants and meriting national distinction. She was instrumental in the successful passage of a $245 million facilities bond and two consecutive parcel tax extensions to preserve vital programs and services for over 13,000 students in her charge.

Bowers was recognized by Association of California School Administrators as a 2012 Region VI Superintendent of the Year, representing both Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. The College of Education/Allied Studies of CSU East Bay awarded Bowers its highest academic honor, Distinguished Alumna of 2016-17, for professional accomplishments as an educational leader. She received a 2018 Phi Delta Kappa Award for leadership, research, and service in education and was a 2019 American Association of University Women Named Honoree for Leadership & Promotion of STEAM Education for Young Women. She has received formal commendations from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, our CA State Assembly and the U.S. Congress, and was named a Champion of Education by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Bowers graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa cum laude from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in English, and subsequently earned her teaching and administrative credential as well as her master’s degree in Educational Leadership from California State University East Bay (CSUEB) and her doctoral degree in Leadership for Educational Equity at UC Berkeley. Her dissertation, A Study of School Board and Superintendent Relations: Strategies for Building Trust in the Mistrustful Context of K-12 Public Education, provides a solid evidence-based foundation for her combined executive leadership and consultancy roles.

Dr. Bowers exudes intense personal and professional passion and her career accomplishments and trajectory are a testament to her unwavering dedication to providing equitable access, opportunity and achievement for all, regardless of demographic or socio-economic background. Her scholarly research further informs and impacts her staunch resolve to help fellow leaders build an effective, high impact governance and leadership team and to facilitate sound and collaborative decision-making through relational trustbuilding, as she has successfully done. She is a role model for women in executive leadership positions and a fierce advocate for the vulnerable and underrepresented, tackling high-profile and politically hot-button issues (e.g., charter school accountability and vaping epidemic), resulting in sweeping legislative/policy change, all the while facing and withstanding intense public scrutiny and cultivating allies.

As a consultant for RPMG, Dr. Bowers is committed to leveraging her doctoral studies and pivotal educational and nonprofit executive leadership experiences to provide ongoing support for current and future public and private sector leaders as they navigate an increasingly volatile and sometimes hostile sociopolitical arena.