Candace Kenyatta is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Grovider. Her almost two decades of experience span the education and nonprofit spectrum. She has served as a high school ELA teacher, turnaround principal, state administrator, and management consultant leveraging expertise in organizational culture, change management, leadership development, and data and impact measurement to help organizations deliver on their mission. Her background in inquiry-based coaching and capacity-building consultative support has increased organizational success in data responsiveness, organizational culture, learning, and strategic design/implementation.

Candace started her career as a high school English teacher in the Newark Public Schools. After serving in the classroom for five years, Candace held several school and nonprofit leadership positions working as the founding School Director for the restart of Paul Robeson Charter School for the Humanities in Trenton, NJ, and holding newly created leadership roles at YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School and CDM Institute.

Before starting Grovider, Candace served as the Director for the Office of Secondary Education at the NJ Department of Education. In this role, she managed the development of content-specific policies and legislation, curriculum frameworks, model instructional materials, as well as developed and executed professional development and technical assistance initiatives to support superintendents, principals, and other district and school-based leadership. During her time at the NJDOE, Candace led the Common Core revision, implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards, and provided professional learning supports to state agencies through a partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Candace has supported private sector, nonprofit and educational leaders through professional development, job-embedded coaching, and structured capacity building. She has led learning and development initiatives from inception to completion, including strategic planning, program development, implementation, and assessment. A skilled researcher with over a decade of experience in research design, data collection, data analysis, and data-informed action planning, Candace uses her experience as a practitioner along with her training in quantitative and qualitative research methodology as a central part of her work. She has designed research and data-informed solutions for leaders across industries through partnerships with the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, Partnership for the Future of Learning, and Rider University.

Candace received her M.S.Ed. In Education, Culture, and Society from the University of Pennsylvania and her BA in English from Cornell University. She currently serves on the boards of Teach for America Greater Philadelphia and Black Girls Love Math and holds a subject matter expert role with the Region 8 Comprehensive Center providing direct technical assistance to state education agencies in Ohio and Michigan. Additionally, she has held membership on the NJ Professional Learning Commission and a cross-sector Philadelphia-based education talent committee. Candace completed National Science Foundation research with Presidential award winner Dr. Jennifer Cromley and has published her work in the American Educational Research Association’s Journal of Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research. In 2011, she was named an Apex Power 30 under 30 honoree, a 2020 Philadelphia Business Journal 40 under 40, and a 2020 Philadelphia Tribune 10 under 40 to Watch.