Charles Foust is a transformational education leader and Executive Leadership Coach with over two decades of experience driving academic improvement, organizational change, and leadership development across public school systems in the United States. Throughout his career, Foust has served in senior leadership roles including Superintendent of New Hanover County Schools in North Carolina and Kansas City Kansas Public Schools. He has also held executive positions such as Chief School Performance Officer in Union County Public Schools and School Support Officer/Assistant Superintendent in Houston ISD. Across these roles, he has led districts serving more than 24,000 students and managed budgets approaching $600 million. Foust is widely recognized for his ability to turn around underperforming school systems. In Kansas City, his leadership contributed to double-digit academic gains and helped remove the district from the state’s lowest-performing category. The district also earned a federal award for Closing the Achievement Gap. As Superintendent of New Hanover County Schools, he led major initiatives that significantly improved academic performance. Under his leadership, district proficiency increased from 50% to 61.1%, placing it among the top-performing districts in North Carolina. Additionally, over 90% of schools met or exceeded growth targets. Foust also secured a multi-million-dollar literacy grant through the New Hanover Community Endowment, enabling the placement of literacy facilitators in every elementary school and strengthening instructional resources district-wide. Earlier in his career, he served as a principal in both high-performing and turnaround schools, including leading Fondren Middle School in Houston ISD to become a top-performing campus with multiple state distinctions. He also guided the school through International Baccalaureate authorization and implemented leadership development frameworks such as the Leader in Me program. Today, as an Executive Leadership Coach, Foust focuses on developing school leaders, superintendents, and education executives. His coaching centers on improving individual leadership capacity while simultaneously transforming systems to achieve sustainable academic success. Foust holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, two master’s degrees in Instructional Technology and School Administration, and a Doctorate in Professional Leadership from the University of Houston. He is also pursuing an MBA at Wake Forest University. His work is guided by a core belief: effective leadership must improve individual lives, transform systems, and create lasting social impact.