Connie Lester joined SREB’s office of School Improvement as a leadership coach in April 2012. Prior to SREB, she spent 27 years as an English language arts teacher, department chair and high school writing portfolio cluster leader in Kentucky schools. After leaving the classroom, Connie became a member of Kentucky’s Highly Skilled Educator Program, where she provided schoolwide instructional and leadership support to struggling schools. She spent the following 12 years at the Kentucky Department of Education in the Office of Leadership and School Improvement as branch manager and later as director of Kentucky’s Highly Skilled Educator Program and the Scholastic Audit Program.

Connie holds an undergraduate degree from the University of the Cumberlands and a master’s in Secondary Education and Rank I from Morehead State University.