Welcome to DSST, a long standing organization and joining us for our next chapter! My name is Nella García Urban, and I am incredibly proud to be the CEO of DSST, serving over 7800 students in Denver and Aurora.

We have a 20 year history of providing a transformative education for secondary students and their families focused on preparing all students for college and the 21st century.

My role is to lead DSST to being a high performing, high demand charter school system of 16 thriving school communities. We strive to retain transformational talent and we are focused on all students increasing their academic proficiency.

At DSST, we do the most important work of proving every day what is possible for all students. Our responsibility to our families and students is clear. And we do our work with courage to defy the odds for all students.

Adelante,

NGU

President Welcome 

Hello, I am Dr. Aaron J. Griffen, your Chief Equity Office at DSST Public schools. I am grateful that you joined our network. My role as Chief Equity Officer is the guide our core Diversity Equity and Inclusion work towards meeting our commitment to educational equity in fulfillment or our Graduate Profile and Mission. Our DEI team includes Mercedes Blea-Davis, Senior Manager of Diversity and Belonging, and Salvador Ramirez, Senior Manager of Equity and Inclusion Strategy and Implementation. Together we partner with schools, teams and departments on our individual and collective Diversity Equity and Inclusion journey.  

Hello, I am Nick Plantan your Chief Operating Officer. Welcome to DSST! In my role as COO, I lead our Finance, Operations, Academic Business Systems, IT/Helpdesk, and Software Development teams. I like to think of our teams as the behind the scenes engine that keeps our network running smoothly and efficiently. These teams are led by our Head of IT Shaun Bryant, Vice President Kirk Anderson, and Directors Megan McBryde, Tony Eberspacher, MJ O’Malley, Jacob Roddy, and Jake Firman. Our school staff will interact most directly through our Front Office teams and Help Desk coordinators, and our staff in the Home Office work hard to ensure that schools have the resources and support to deliver the best education possible for our students.

Hello – my name is Carrie Ramsey and I am Chief of Staff at DSST Public Schools. Welcome to DSST! My role at Chief of Staff is to maximize CEO and our Senior Leadership Team efficiency and effectiveness, implement systems for data-driven action, a support cross-functional collaboration and problem solving. I am eager to meet you and excited you have joined the organization!

Hello, I am Nicole Fulbright, the Head of Strategy at DSST Public schools. My role as Head of Strategy is to lead the organization’s long term and short term strategic planning processes, leveraging community input to ensure we are focused on the right priorities to achieve our mission. Our Strategy Team includes John Trier, Director of Strategy and Caroline Gaudiani (“G”), Director of Organizational Effectiveness. As a team we support home office leaders as well as school leaders with the conditions that are necessary to achieve ambitious goals together.