Kathleen Mathers

In her role as a Principal at ESG, Kathleen leads the firm’s career readiness portfolio focused on college and career pathways as drivers of economic and social mobility. Within this role, she helps key ecosystem stakeholders - within state education agencies, school districts, higher education institutions, employer-facing and community-based organizations - assess and strengthen career preparation systems to lead more learners to in-demand, high-wage employment paths. She brings deep experience in designing, managing, and executing projects and programs to strengthen and scale pathways - which include career advising, work-based learning, high-value credentialing, early postsecondary opportunities, and social capital development -to put more learners on an accelerated path to economic and career success. Prior to joining ESG, Kathleen served as Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement in Georgia, a P-16 research, policy, and accountability agency. In that role, she collaborated on new legislation and policy initiatives to improve student achievement and school completion, and she directed related research efforts to determine the effectiveness of K-12 practices to drive overall systems change from early childhood education through postsecondary education and training. Kathleen earned a Master’s Degree from Georgia State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Education and Math from St Mary’s College.