Matt Kelley is the chief executive officer of Independence Charter School (ICS), a K-8 school in Philadelphia serving over 800 students through a Spanish immersion and global citizenship model. At ICS, Matt leads a complex mission that balances dual-language immersion with a global curriculum for a student body that is exceptionally diverse for the Philadelphia region. Over the last few years, an average of 70% of ICS graduates successfully qualified for criteria-based high schools in Philadelphia. His work focuses on pushing school performance by strengthening a culture of teamwork and high expectations, managing the ICS Board to high performance, and building the infrastructure and strategy for fundraising and development.

Prior to leading ICS, Matt served as a program director for the Philadelphia Academy of School Leaders, where he directed a $1.1 million program budget and coached fellows in the Neubauer Fellowship in Education Leadership. He also worked at the Philadelphia School Partnership as a school investment manager and managed large grants to fund new and expanding schools in Philadelphia. Matt’s leadership experience is rooted in his time with the Noble Network of Charter Schools in Chicago, where he was the founding principal of DRW College Prep. At DRW, Matthew set the vision and mission of the school from its inception and led the school to earn high levels of ACT growth and at least 90% college acceptance year after year. Matt began his career in the classroom as a Teach For America corps member in Helena, Arkansas. He was National Board Certified in English language arts and is a semi-professional DJ specializing in soul and funk music.

Matt earned his bachelor's degree in sociology with honors from Brown University and his master's degree in school leadership from Teachers College at Columbia University.