Our Story

The FOX Fellowship, co-founded by DeRonda Williams and Irma Muñoz, is a 10-month, cohort- based leadership development program for Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and Chief Operating Officers (COOs) working in the charter school sector. Our mission is to catapult finance and operations leaders into the next phase of their leadership journey—so they can build sustainable systems that drive academic success and student outcomes.

The Fellowship was created in response to a persistent and under-addressed challenge in K–12 charter schools: the lack of investment in finance and operations leadership, which directly affects organizational stability and academic outcomes.

Through individualized coaching, peer learning, applied leadership development, and CEO-aligned strategy, FOX supports leaders in building the financial and operational infrastructure that schools need to scale sustainably and equitably. Since launching in 2022, FOX has served over 100 leaders across the country—including 30 in its largest cohort to date.

FOX Fellowship is designed exclusively for senior finance and operations leaders in charter organizations and is distinguished by:

• Built for CFOs, COOs, and the highest-ranking finance/operations leaders - Designed for leaders with real authority over financial, operational, and sustainability decisions.

• Integrated leadership development model - Executive coaching, cohort learning, and applied content work together to support leadership growth.

• Integrated technical and adaptive leadership development - Fellows build finance and operations expertise alongside leadership judgment, prioritization, and decision-making skills.

• Real-World, job-embedded Learning- Fellows work on real organizational challenges throughout the fellowship, including a capstone tied to a high-value priority.

• CEO engagement strand - FOX includes a dedicated strand to strengthen CEO understanding of finance and operations leadership and support effective CEO–CFO/COO partnership.