Dr. Lora de la Cruz is a distinguished educational executive with more than 30 years of experience leading transformational change in public education. As a Special Projects Consultant with The Impact Team, she serves as a strategic advisor to superintendents, cabinet-level leaders, and executive leadership teams, supporting complex district initiatives, organizational improvement efforts, and systemwide strategies designed to improve student outcomes and strengthen organizational effectiveness.

Throughout her career, Dr. de la Cruz has held leadership positions including school leader, area superintendent, deputy superintendent, superintendent, and university professor. Her experience spans urban, suburban, and diverse educational settings, providing her with deep expertise in leading large-scale change initiatives, aligning organizational systems, developing leadership capacity, and implementing strategic priorities across complex educational organizations.

As the daughter of an immigrant, Dr. de la Cruz understands firsthand the transformative power of education and has dedicated her career to expanding opportunity and ensuring equitable outcomes for all students. She has successfully led districtwide improvement efforts that increased achievement across racial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, ability, identity, and socioeconomic groups while strengthening the systems and leadership structures necessary to sustain long-term success.

Dr. de la Cruz is recognized for her ability to help executive leaders navigate complexity, build organizational coherence, and translate strategic vision into measurable results. Her expertise includes executive leadership coaching, strategic planning, organizational effectiveness, leadership development, systems design, change management, stakeholder engagement, and equity-centered improvement. She has successfully facilitated district strategic planning processes, guided executive teams through organizational change, and supported leaders in developing high-performing systems that improve outcomes for students, staff, and communities.

As a Special Projects Consultant with The Impact Team, Dr. de la Cruz provides executive-level consultation on district transformation initiatives, leadership development, strategic planning, governance support, community engagement, and organizational improvement efforts. Her ability to connect vision, strategy, implementation, and accountability enables districts to move critical priorities from planning to execution while building sustainable internal capacity.

Known for her strategic insight, collaborative leadership style, and unwavering commitment to educational excellence, Dr. de la Cruz helps leaders align people, systems, and resources around a shared vision for student success. Her work is grounded in the belief that strong leadership, coherent systems, and a relentless focus on equity are essential to achieving lasting improvement and meaningful outcomes for all students.