Valencia Koker, currently serving as the Senior Vice President and Executive Director for City Year Chicago, takes pride in her role as a transformational leader with over a decade in the field of education. In her role, she oversees all aspects of the organization, including operations, marketing, fundraising, partnerships and educational and career development outcomes for City Year’s students and AmeriCorps members.
A proud veteran, having served in the United States Air Force Air National Guard for nine years, she is a recipient of the Air Force Achievement Medal. Her career in education began as a teacher in Wisconsin. After being accepted into the nationally recognized New Leaders principal preparation program, she relocated to Chicago and served as a resident principal at one of the city’s selective enrollment high schools in West Englewood. Immediately after, at the age of 27, she was selected as the founding principal to lead the turnaround efforts for McNair School of Excellence, within the Chicago Public Schools district, in the Austin neighborhood on the west side. During her tenure, the school’s rating improved dramatically on all metrics, including attendance, student growth, and student attainment in reading and math. After almost two decades of being categorized as one of the lowest-performing schools in the district, McNair achieved level 1+ and level 1 status (respectively) under her leadership.
Valencia has also served as an Executive Director of a charter school and principal of a K-8 school on the south side. She takes pride in leadership development and mentoring others, with experience as a New Principal Mentor, Chicago Leadership Collaborative Mentor Resident Principal, Network Lead Principal, and a participant in the 2019-2020 Chicago Principals Fellowship offered in partnership by The Fund and Northwestern Kellogg School of Business. She was also a 2023 Chicago Urban League IMPACT Fellow, a member of the inaugural Change Collective cohort, recognized as a Chicago 40 Under 40 Game Changer by WVON Radio & Ariel Investments, and recently selected for Leadership Greater Chicago’s 40th Signature Fellows class.
Alongside her career in the military, education and not-for-profit industries, she is also the Board Chair of GODDESS Mentoring, a longtime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and above all else, she is the doting mother to her son, Carter, and always acknowledges him as her greatest accomplishment.