Education Insider proudly presents the Top 10 Chief Academic Officers 2026, recognizing academic leaders who are shaping institutional strategy, advancing student success, and strengthening the quality of teaching and learning across educational environments. These executives oversee curriculum development, academic planning, faculty initiatives, and assessment frameworks while ensuring programs remain aligned with evolving educational needs and workforce expectations. Their leadership fosters academic excellence, supports innovation in learning, and helps institutions create meaningful outcomes for students, educators, and the communities they serve.
Top 10 Chief Academic Officers - 2026
Nicky Ramos-Beban View Profile
Chief Academic Officer, TUTORWORKS
Nicky Ramos-Beban, chief academic officer at TUTORWORKS, is an education leader, a former English teacher and the founding principal of East Palo Alto Academy and Small Schools by Design. She is a Stanford graduate who has spent her career designing smaller, relationship-driven public schools where every student is well-known and supported to achieve. Her work spans classroom instruction, teacher development, school leadership and public school transformation and she has taught pre-service teachers at Stanford and San Jose State Universities since 1999.
Courtney Hills McBeth View Profile
Chief Academic Officer & Provost, Western Governors University
Courtney Hills McBeth serves as Chief Academic Officer and Provost at Western Governors University, overseeing academic affairs across the institution's colleges and degree programs. Her career has moved through university leadership and education-focused philanthropy, exposing her to conversations about student success from multiple vantage points. Questions surrounding educational quality, workforce relevance and long-term outcomes have remained consistent throughout that work.
Dr. Lauren Loquasto View Profile
Chief Academic Officer, The Goddard School
Dr. Lauren Loquasto is Chief Academic Officer at The Goddard School, where she oversees academic strategy and curriculum development across the organization's network of early childhood education centers. Her professional experience includes classroom teaching, school leadership and curriculum design. Work throughout her career has focused on a question that sits at the heart of early learning: how educational research can remain meaningful once it reaches a classroom full of young children.
