Get to Know Kate Armstrong: Senior Vice President of Operations

Senior Vice President of Operations Kate Armstrong

As a former charter school operations professional and leader of our operations team, Kate Armstrong, Neighborhood Villages’ Senior Vice President of Operations, plays a key role in keeping the gears of our organization turning. Level-headed and forward-thinking, she is the steady force working behind the scenes to tie together the many aspects of Neighborhood Villages.

Since joining Neighborhood Villages in 2021, Kate has helped us grow — not just in size, but in impact. She’s been instrumental not only in keeping things running smoothly behind the scenes but also in supporting our direct service programs and policy initiatives that uplift educators, families, advocates, and children. As our work continues to evolve, Kate remains focused on building thoughtful strategies that ensure everything runs with purpose and precision.

We caught up with Kate to talk about what brought her to Neighborhood Villages and how her plan for a streamlined operations system will help our organization grow even stronger.

Can you tell us about your background and education?

I’ve worked in operations at Neighborhood Villages for four years, and prior to that, I worked for many years in K-12 school operations. My whole career has been in service of schools and education.

My current role at Neighborhood Villages entails taking on anything and everything to keep the organization running smoothly so that our teams can really focus on their programs instead of worrying about logistics. I’m also the mom of three young girls, so my focus on child care and early education is not only professional, but personal. 

How has your background in charter school operations shaped your approach to leading at Neighborhood Villages?

Both my professional and personal experiences led me to want to work for an organization that not only supports early childhood education as it exists now, but also envisions the possibility of a true system. 

During my time working in K-12, it quickly became apparent that our students were already arriving below grade level. I always had this nagging question in the back of my mind: “What would be possible if students arrived in school with a strong educational foundation already established?” That’s when I became interested in working with younger children, but my passion for child care access arose when my first daughter was born. My husband and I were struck by the fact that there was (and still is) no system. It was incredibly difficult to find affordable, high-quality care for our daughter. I thought to myself, “How can it be this is how hard it is for us, from our seats of privilege? What does everyone else do?” 

How has Neighborhood Villages developed since you first began?

When I came to Neighborhood Villages four years ago, there were five employees. Over the course of the past four years, it has been incredibly gratifying to help build the organization from the ground up – now being the 25+ group that we are now, supporting schools and educators locally and statewide and advocating for more equitable early education and care policy for everyone. Getting to support this growing organization and its burgeoning impact is really exciting work. 

What are your top priorities for strengthening processes and supporting the organization's mission?

As we establish our new, larger central operations team, one of our top priorities is thinking about the systems and structures that already exist within each of our individual programs and figuring out how we can centralize those systems. For example, rather than each individual team needing to do all of the planning for their conferences, webinars, and events, the central operations team now exists to streamline those processes. A few of the systems we will be working on are event planning and logistics, database support, and material distribution. 

What is your ‘why’?

I came to Neighborhood Villages with personal and professional experience in the K-12 system and having deeply internalized that early education and care was not a comprehensive, cohesive system for educators, families, children, or anyone.

Neighborhood Villages not only envisions a system, Neighborhood Villages is showing that a system is possible.

It is very inspiring to be part of the team that is demonstrating that a system for early education and care is possible. It is not a matter of if, but rather a matter of when.