Back in 2022, we awarded Caitlin Richard ’13 the Life of Purpose Alumni Award for her work in the Tulsa Public School System:

Caitlin Richard ’13 was nominated by her mother, Irene Richard P ’13, ’15. In the letter Irene wrote to the committee, she said, “Caitlin has focused her education and early career on improving the lives of students in high-need and underfunded schools. She is dedicated to the meaningful and challenging work of breaking down barriers to empower and equip students to reach their full potentials and to better themselves and our society.”

Caitlin works in Oklahoma for the Tulsa Public School system as the Director of District Strategy. It is her job to pull the community together and determine how to organize school district spending in a way that prioritizes teachers and students. She’s learned she can be more impactful by partnering, collaborating, and aligning with the community. Caitlin says she uses her experience at Harley in her work all the time. “Harley is an example of what good looks like” and when she talks about a quality education, she can speak about it, because she experienced it: the strong academics, the strong relationships between students and teachers, the strong sense of community, and the opportunity to find your passion.

We had a chance to interview Caitlin about her time at Harley and her work, click here to watch.

From there, she has taken on the role of Chief Financial Officer of the Hartford Public School System in Connecticut. She was recently interviewed on WFSB TV about the financial reality facing Hartford Public Schools.

She was also interviewed on WNPR/Connecticut Public Radio about current struggles of the school system.