Yvonne Faisal is an experienced educator, systems thinker, and leader. She is the Director of Academics for San Francisco Girls’ School, a start-up school focused on using STEM and the Arts to address the challenges facing humanity. The opportunity to build a program from the ground up, gather and develop an impactful teaching team, and align values with action has been a worthy professional challenge and source of deep joy.

Previously, Yvonne spent sixteen years at The Woodside Priory School where she served as a Mathematics and Engineering teacher, a Department Chair, the Senior Class Dean, and the Director of Systems and Innovation. In her role, she led task forces to facilitate full-school change initiatives, coordinated multi-divisional projects, and conducted professional development workshops on innovative teaching practices, building change capacity, and exploring balance within the educational paradigm. She was awarded the St. Stephan medal by her peers for teaching excellence and her work for incorporating hands-on learning and real-life applications into the classroom, as well as her commitment to teaching independent strategic thinking and self-advocacy.

Yvonne’s commitment to mentoring and building capacity in others is a hallmark of her work. Prior to her career in the educational field, Yvonne was an electrical engineer and she holds a BA in Mathematics and Physics from Drury University, a BS in Electrical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, and a MA in Ed. & H.D. for Organization Leadership and Learning from The George Washington University.