Staff & Consultants

Kaaren Heikes, Executive Director
Kaaren has served in the public education arena for 18 years, five by teaching middle and high school students and thirteen by leading regional and state-level initiatives related to alternative education, workforce development, and charter schools, within Education Service Districts and nonprofit organizations. For the past four years, she served as the Director of the Charter Schools Development Center’s Oregon program, providing extensive technical assistance to charter schools, charter developers, and district sponsors, as well as working at the state level to influence legislation, policy and practices. In order to better address the needs and opportunities in Oregon and throughout the Pacific Northwest, Kaaren and her key advisors in the charter community established NWCEO to continue and expand their previous work. Kaaren has earned an M.S. in K-12 Administration, a B.A. in English, and Educational credentials both in K-12 Administration and Secondary Teaching.

Joni Gilles, Associate Director
Joni served—for the past nine years—as a Director at the Oregon Department of Education, where she provided leadership and management to many key programs, including charter schools, reading first, alternative schools, private career schools, middle school improvement, service learning and 21st century learning communities.  Joni has been instrumental in administering the Federal Charter School Grant Program and in working with school districts, charter schools and charter developers to implement Oregon’s charter school law.  Immediately prior to joining the Oregon Department of Education, Joni served as principal of Howard Street Charter School in Salem for a couple of years.  She spent many years as an administrator and teacher in the public and private school systems.  Joni has a B.A. and M.A. in Education, as well as an Oregon educational administration license.

NWCEO is in the process of expanding its team. Updates regarding additional staff and consultants will be made available shortly.