Susan Cheng

Susan Cheng is an Associate Partner working out of the NewSchools Venture Fund’s DC office, where she focuses on human capital investment and management assistance for the firm’s portfolio ventures in the Learning to Teach Fund. Prior to working at NewSchools, Susan Cheng joined Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s transition team in the Washington, DC Public Schools (DCPS) during the first month of Rhee’s tenure and played a critical role in the district’s significant improvement over a short period of time. While with DCPS, she focused on human capital recruitment and talent development, organizational culture building, and designing and implementing a performance-management system for the central office. Susan also created and ran the district’s Urban Education Leaders Internship Program and launched the Teachers Central to Leadership fellowship, developing strategies for integrating teacher input within the central office. Prior to joining DCPS, she volunteered with Partners in Health in Rwanda, worked in the DC Mayor’s office, and managed a portfolio of education and environmental justice programs for the Greenlining Institute in California. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a BA in Mass Communications, and an MPP in Housing and Urban Development from the Harvard Kennedy School. As part of the inaugural cohort, she received her Doctor in Education Leadership (EdLD) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Education Leadership Program.