Carmen Darville is chief operating officer at YES Prep Public Schools, where she oversees a broad portfolio of operational functions that enable strong academic environments for thousands of students across the Houston region. In this role, Carmen leads strategy and execution across areas including technology, compliance, analytics, school operations, safety, and organizational effectiveness.

Carmen is also the founder of AxlPhx, a consulting practice focused on helping education and nonprofit organizations solve complex leadership and systems challenges. Through this work, she supports executive leaders in talent strategy, operational design, and change management to improve outcomes at scale.

Previously, Carmen has served in senior leadership roles including chief of talent, chief of staff, and chief of operations across multiple large public school systems. Over the course of her career, her work has influenced educational experiences for more than 400,000 students. She began her professional journey as a classroom teacher, grounding her leadership in a deep understanding of teaching and learning.

Carmen is the author of When Human Resources Needs Human Resources: A Leader’s Journey to Empathy and Leveling Up, and a contributing author of the chapter “Whatever You Do, Just Keep Moving” in Leading in the Midst of It All: Surviving and Thriving Through COVID-19 and Racial Reckonings .

She is a certified cognitive coach and a member of the Society of Human Resources Management. Carmen earned degrees from Case Western Reserve University, the University of Texas at Austin, and certification from Stanford University.

She lives with her husband, Chris, and their children, Rowan and Cooper.


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