Bill Kurtz

Chair, CrossPurpose

Bill currently serves as a Senior Advisor at DSST Public Schools, a public charter school network in Colorado. He also supports, coaches, and advises CEOs on growing their leadership, impact and organizations. He writes a weekly reflection, Leading Yourself to Lead Others found at https://billkurtz.substack.com/p/leading-yourself-to-lead-others

From 2004-2024, he was the Founding CEO of DSST Public Schools. DSST currently serves 7,500 students in 16 schools (8 middle schools, 8 high schools) in Denver and Aurora, Colorado. DSST has consistently run the top performing middle schools and high schools in Denver over the last twenty years. DSST won the 2018 Broad Prize as the top performing charter school network in the country. Three DSST schools have been recognized as National Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of Education.

Bill was inducted into the National Charter School Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Colorado Charter School Hall of Fame in 2024. He was recognized as the 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year by the New Schools Venture Fund and was named one of 25 champions of public education in Denver in 2008. Bill is an Aspen Institute Global Leadership Fellow and is a graduate of the Yale Broad Superintendent program.

Bill currently serves as a Moderator for Pahara and teachers Strategic Leadership at the University of Denver Non-Profit Leadership Masters Program. He serves on the Board of Directors at the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools, AdvanceEDU, and Chair of the Board at Cross Purpose. Prior to joining to his career in education, Bill worked on the M&A Investment Banking Team at JPChase in New York City.