About me
Matt Niksch is an experienced non-profit leader and university lecturer who helps non-profits develop capacity in college and career access and success, overall strategy, data strategy & analysis, finance, operations, development, and people management.
From June 2022 through May 2023, he and his wife took their 3 children (9th grade, 6th grade, and 3rd grade) on a homeschooling journey around the world, visiting 51 countries. You can read more about their trip at kidsoncamels.com.
Until 2022, he served as President of Noble Schools. As President, he led the Noble Support Team and was responsible for the execution of Noble’s strategic plan, with particular focus on ensuring that all students have equitable and positive school experiences that equip them to succeed on the path of their choice, leading to 75% of alumni completing college.
He assumed the role of President in 2019 after seven years as Chief College Officer. In that role, he supported campuses in all aspects of college access, college completion, and career outcomes. Matt’s work has been nationally recognized for its innovative and data-driven approach to college and alumni counseling based on a suite of tools that he has shared with other networks. He was profiled on this work in a chapter of the book “The B.A. Breakthrough: How Ending Diploma Disparities Can Change the Face of America,” by Richard Whitmire.
In addition to his work at Noble, Matt created and taught a graduate level course on education policy at the Harris School of Public Policy at The University of Chicago. Prior to Noble, he was Director, College Completion Initiative at the KIPP Foundation. He has worked previously as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company and as an aerospace & systems engineer at Lockheed Martin. He holds an MBA from The University of Chicago, an M.S. in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech, and B.S. degrees in electrical engineering and aerospace engineering from Purdue University.
Note: this site hosts a wide range of posts since 2006. For a more personal introduction, please click here. For more of those earlier posts, click on the links above or to the right.
