Kristin Grimme (she/her/hers)

As Senior Vice President of Strategy, Kristin Grimme is a member of The Mind Trust’s leadership team and leads The Mind Trust’s strategic efforts to ensure a strong education landscape in Indianapolis, including its policy and advocacy work as well as other special projects to expand The Mind Trust’s impact. Prior to taking this role, she oversaw all aspects of The Mind Trust’s work supporting the launch of new, high-quality schools in Indianapolis and led the The Mind Trust’s groundbreaking Innovation School Fellowship partnership with Indianapolis Public Schools and The Mayor’s Office to support the growth of new Innovation Network Schools.

Kristin came to The Mind Trust after serving as the City of Indianapolis’ charter schools director under Mayor Greg Ballard and continuing into Mayor Joe Hogsett’s term. In this role, she oversaw 39 charter schools, serving about 13,000 students and also was the city’s liaison to the United Way of Central Indiana for the Indianapolis Preschool Program. Grimme is the third former Indianapolis charter schools director on The Mind Trust’s staff.

Before joining the Mayor’s Office, Kristin was a school improvement and turnaround specialist for the Indiana Department of Education, where she coached principals in 56 schools on effective school improvement planning and intervention. Kristin previously was a Teach For America (TFA) corps member, Spanish teacher, and ESL administrator in Dallas. She graduated from Purdue University and earned teaching certifications from Southern Methodist University.