Monique Burns Thompson is an accomplished social entrepreneur who returns to HBS (class of 1993) and brings her twenty years of successful start-up and organizational leadership experience to her research and teaching at HBS. She has led as a co-founder, President, and Chief Curriculum Officer focusing specifically on building organizations and systems, developing leaders and closely aligning programs and products with marketplace need. Burns Thompson teaches Leadership and Corporate Accountability and FIELD Immersion (Birmingham) at Harvard Business School. She is also the faculty co-lead in a collaboration with the Harvard Graduate School of Education to develop and deliver the Certificate for School Management and Leadership (CSML): designed to provide preK-12 school leaders with frameworks, skills, and knowledge to drive change and lead high performing schools. This entrepreneurial venture launched in 2018, using HBS Online, and has had over 16,000 participants.
Prior to HBS, Burns Thompson was the co-founder and President of Teach Plus, a national non-profit that trains excellent, experienced teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their profession and their student’s success. Teach Plus trained over 30,000 teacher leaders during its founding years and those leaders have introduced groundbreaking policies at the district, state and federal level, and partnered with districts to use teacher instructional leadership to turn around failing schools.
Burns Thompson was also co-founder, President and Chief Curriculum Officer of what FastCompany Magazine has called “one of the top ten companies changing the world,” New Leaders for New Schools. Her primary focus was the development, management and delivery of a world class training curriculum that focuses on giving new principals concrete skills in instructional and managerial leadership. New Leaders is now the largest recruiter and trainer of school leaders in the US.
When not an entrepreneur, Burns Thompson has spent her time working inside districts and the charter sector with leaders who are focused on change. This included as a consultant with The McKenzie Group in Washington, DC (opening four middle schools for DCPS) and spending a year as the assistant principal of one of those schools. Being the Special Assistant to the Superintendent of the Philadelphia Public School District and leading the implementation of a $45 million productivity and efficiency program, leading the long-range planning process for a $765 million building maintenance report, and negotiating a ground-breaking contract with the National Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers Local 1201.
While working on her doctorate at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Monique was a leadership coach and consultant for 14 charter school in Massachusetts. She has consulted in the area of management, operations, and training for organizations that want to ensure they are providing the highest quality learning experience for their students. Her business career started at the Quaker Oats Co. in marketing and brand management and she credits Quaker for her foundational learning in marketing. “If you can sell Pup-peroni dog treats, you can sell anything.”
Burns Thompson earned her Bachelor's Degree from Dartmouth College, her MBA from Harvard Business School, and her Master’s in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is ABD for her doctorate in Education Administration and Social Policy.
Burns Thompson is the proud mother of two daughters. She keeps her balance in this world by running long distances slowly, skiing quickly, and traveling whenever possible.
- Featured Work
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Certificate in School Management and Leadership is an innovative collaboration between the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Harvard Business School, powered by HBS Online. CSML is designed to provide preK-12 school leaders at all stages of their careers with frameworks, skills, and knowledge to drive change and to lead high performing schools. CSML will comprise four distinct yet interrelated courses, which may be taken individually or completed together to earn a comprehensive certificate. Together, these courses address topics most vital to leading successful schools.
School leaders are key change agents for their schools and are tasked with improving practice while navigating an increasingly challenging school environment. Driving change requires a strong foundation of knowledge and skills to effectively manage improvement and lead successful schools. Leading Change is designed to equip school leaders with the skills they need to drive school change and help diverse stakeholders establish priorities and improve practice.
School leaders are responsible for setting the vision and goals and aligning strategy and resources to drive improvement in their schools, while navigating an increasingly challenging school environment. Leading Schools is designed to equip school leaders with the skills they need to identify existing challenges, incorporate and support innovation, and take a strategic problem-solving approach to planning and driving school improvement.
Today’s principals are charged with a wide array of responsibilities – from generating better student outcomes, to recruiting, managing, and retaining high-quality faculty and staff, to cultivating collaboration and collective learning. Leading People provides school leaders with the skills needed to manage and motivate staff, foster continuous improvement, and build leadership capabilities among individuals, groups, and teams throughout the school.
Leading Learning is organized into four modules focused on developing the school structures, systems, supports, and culture that lead to excellent teaching and learning in every classroom, for every student.
- Awards & Honors
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Received the 2021 Greenhill Award for Outstanding Service to the HBS Community for creating and developing/growing the Certificate in School Management and Leadership (CSML).
- In The News
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