Juan Aguinaga is the Principal at ChattAcademy, East Tennessee’s first and only bilingual school. Prior, he was Chief of Staff at Prep Public Schools, a network of tuition-free, all-boys public charter schools. He supported organizational strategy, drove academic initiatives, and ensured alignment across campuses to deliver high-quality education to historically underserved students. He played a pivotal role in leading the organization’s acceptance into Charter School Growth Fund’s scale portfolio, building leadership pipelines, and leading replication initiatives. Under his leadership, the organization achieved TVAAS Level 5 growth and B letter grade for consecutive years, and first-time reward federal accountability status.

Before joining Prep, Juan served as a high school achievement manager at KIPP New Orleans, where he developed curriculum, assessments, and led professional development for the network’s high schools. In 2020, he graduated from Columbia University, gaining expertise in scaling and managing high-performing charter schools. His career began with Teach For America in his hometown, the Rio Grande Valley, where he served as a teacher and teacher leader at IDEA Public Schools. He consistently led students to achieve some of the highest standardized test scores in the district and improved AP results.

A low-income student himself, Juan is passionate about ensuring all students, regardless of their background, have the chance to pursue a college education. He believes the true risk lies not in academic failure, but in the inequities created by adults that deny students from a just opportunity to achieve their highest potential.

Juan graduated from Leadership Chattanooga’s 2023 class and continues to serve his community. He earned his master’s degree in organizational leadership from Columbia University and his bachelor’s in international relations from Texas A&M University. He met his wife, Kaitlyn Bruce, at KIPP New Orleans, and they welcomed their first child, Rio Bruce Aguinaga, in July 2025.