John White

John White began serving as CEO of Great Minds in 2025. He joined the Great Minds team as Chief Success Officer in 2022. Under his leadership, the company more than doubled the size of its services business while also building new customer success, research, and public policy functions. John previously served as Louisiana State Superintendent of Education. In that role, John led efforts to unify the state’s fragmented early childhood system, modernize curriculum, improve teacher preparation, and overhaul state educational standards. Before that, John led the Louisiana Recovery School District, helping transform New Orleans schools after Hurricane Katrina, and was Deputy Chancellor for the New York City Department of Education. He served as Executive Director of Teach For America – Chicago and Teach For America – New Jersey, and currently sits on the national board of directors. John started his career teaching high school English in Jersey City, NJ. John is co-founder of Propel America, a non-profit startup connecting recent high school graduates with good first jobs, and Watershed Advisors, a consultancy to governments scaling high-impact education initiatives. He is a director at the Boston-based training company QBS; at Accelerate, which supports education leaders; and at New Schools for New Orleans. John also is an Education Advisory Council member at the global consultancy Alvarez & Marsal. John earned a bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Virginia, a master’s degree in public administration from New York University, and doctorate in education from Johns Hopkins University. He lives in New Orleans with his wife and three children.