GEMS: Building Stronger Schools with JoAnn Gama

Join host Pablo Muñoz for a captivating conversation with his featured guest — JoAnn Gama . JoAnn is a charter school founder and education leader who has held nearly every role in a school system, from teacher to superintendent and CEO. She is the founder of GEMS, where she develops and coaches school leaders nationwide. JoAnn is also a mother, wife, and daughter who believes leadership is personal and schools change lives. 1:03 - Introduction 2:00 - My Leadership Story 33:58 - GEMS 36:20 - Charter Schools and Choice 40:06 - Developing Principals 45:44 - IDEA Public Schools 49:59 - Scaling Schools, Growing Quickly 53:40 - The Broken Middle 57:14 - Latinx Leadership Pipelines 1:01:04 - Guiding Principles JoAnn Gama is a Latinx leadership coach with more than two decades of experience building and leading high-performing schools and systems. She was the superintendent and CEO at IDEA Public Schools in Texas during a period of strong growth and student outcomes. JoAnn later served as chief talent officer at Phalen Leadership Academies, where she leads human capital strategy, leadership development, and efforts to strengthen retention and internal leadership pipelines. JoAnn brings lived experience and system-level insight to conversations about school choice, college access, leadership representation, and educator retention. She received a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Boston University. JoAnn earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Texas Pan American. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/joann-gama-b0b89217a Website: gama-ed.com/ Instagram: instagram.com/gems_eduservices/ Email: joanngama@gmail.com Email: joanngama@gama-ed.com Latino Leaders is an award-winning podcast that was named a Silver Winner in the 4th Annual Signal Awards. Latino Leaders publishes new episodes weekly on Mondays. Latino Leaders podcast is a production of Muñoz & Company, an educational and leadership consulting organization. Pablo is a leadership coach, teacher, trainer, and speaker who is also the author of The Leader’s Algorithm . For additional information visit: themunozcompany.com Purchase The Leader’s Algorithm : themunozcompany.com/the-leaders-algorithm Learn more about Pablo: themunozcompany.com/pablo-munoz LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/pablo-muñoz-b30b2ab1 Email: pablo@themunozcompany.com