Yvonne Chan, Ed.D. was appointed to the Board in 2017. She is the founding Principal of the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Los Angeles. She has pushed the limits of education and social innovation for more than 50 years as a school leader, policymaker, and the founder of the first conversion charter school in the nation that now serves 3,300 low-income students (PK-12).

Throughout her trajectory, Dr. Chan transformed “crack houses” into schoolhouses, established a family center with onsite health services and a community theater, transformed gang territories into college prep laboratories, instituted an extended school year and a longer school day, integrated global studies and career-tech pathways into the daily curriculum, provided performance pay for teachers, and maximized untapped human and fiscal resources.

Her efforts turned the once failing public school into a community-based learning center and the high-poverty neighborhood into an educational and economic corridor. As a result, the school received the California Distinguish School and the National Blue Ribbon School Award recognitions. She is determined to turn risks into opportunities through her tenacity and forward-thinking skills to do the impossible.

Dr. Chan earned a doctorate in education from UCLA, a Master of Arts in Special Education from California State University, Northridge, a Bachelor of Arts in World Languages from UCLA, and a post-doctoral in Computer Science from UCLA. In addition, she has eight teaching and service credentials and the ability to communicate in four world languages.

Dr. Chan served as a teacher and an administrator at the Los Angeles Unified School District for 20 years. While serving as the Principal of Vaughn, she was also an adjunct professor at California State University, Northridge, and UCLA. In addition, Dr. Chan was a member of the California State Board of Education, a Commissioner of the City of Los Angeles, and is a current LA County Commissioner for Public Social Services.

She has received many awards, including the Milken Educator Award, McGraw Hills Prize in Education Award, James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award, the Gleitsman Citizen Activist Award, Valley of the Stars, Woman of the Year, Distinguished Alumni Award from UCLA and CSUN, and the Rose Award from USC.

Arriving in the U.S. alone at age 17 with just $100, Dr. Chan set out to pursue the American Dream —a dream she realized and a dream in which she now teaches countless others to aspire.