Brigid Ahern

President and Chief Executive Officer

Brigid Ahern is President and CEO of Turnaround for Children, a nonprofit that collaborates with educators to build from their strengths and transform schools into places that put students on the path toward healthy development, learning and thriving through a whole-child approach, one that acknowledges the integrated nature of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive, and academic growth, no matter their starting point or what has gotten in the way.  

From 2014-2018, as Chief External Affairs Officer, Brigid oversaw Turnaround’s communications, development, executive, policy and systemic impact departments and served on the organization’s leadership team.

Before Turnaround, Brigid led development for Uncommon Schools and served the New York City Department of Education as Senior Manager of Operations for the Partnership Support Office.

Brigid holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia. She is an alumna of The Broad Residency in Urban Education and a Billions Institute Fellow.

City and State Magazine recognized Brigid as one of the 100 most powerful education leaders in New York in their 2021 Education Power 100 list. Politics NY named her one of their Power Players in Education in 2021.

Who is your hero?

The person I admire the most in this world is my best friend, Meredith. She never compromises herself, she never pretends, she is always Meredith. She embraces who she is every moment of every day. Think of how amazing the world would be if everyone did this!

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

My answer has changed since having twins six years ago. They left all the other achievements behind.