Who We Are: Kristin Nafziger, MA, PMP

“The Region 14 Comprehensive Center is a valuable and approachable partner to state education agencies, dedicated to building capacity, engineering innovative solutions, and implementing sustainable practices to improve student outcomes.”

About Kristin Nafziger

(She/Her/Hers)

Kristin is a nationally sought-after leader in the areas of strategic communications and continuous improvement approaches. She has extensive experience implementing large statewide programs and expertise supporting the implementation of collective action networks to achieve results.

By incorporating best practices from business and nonprofit sectors, as well as systems and design thinking, Kristin gets to the root cause of complex issues in education and designs creative solutions through her unique client-centered approach.

Transparency, honesty, and open lines of communication are essential components of the culture Kristin has developed at the Region 14 Comprehensive Center. She has cultivated a strengths-based team from diverse backgrounds to deliver world-class expertise, supporting and empowering state clients.

Career Highlights

• Kristin is an Associate Director for Education Studies at Westat. Her work involves translating research to practice by developing policy and program guidelines, providing responsive technical support, and implementing engaging research-based training to build educators’ capacities to implement programs.

• Founding member and Executive Vice President of Edvance Research, Inc. (Edvance), a woman- and minority-owned small business. Edvance was named one of the top 50 privately owned companies and one of the largest women-owned firms in San Antonio. Kristin followed trends in evidence-based education and informed educators and policymakers about new programs and practices that showed promising results.

• Led the program enhancement and quality assurance contract for the Texas Education Agency’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers program funded by the U.S. Department of Education for more than 10 years. Directed a team that provided training, technical assistance, and monitoring services for the $100 million program that serves more than 200,000 students annually.

• At the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC), Kristin supported the Baldrige in Education Initiative, a national effort bringing excellence and equity to education. Oversaw two significant collaborative benchmarking studies that examined best practices in teacher preparation programs and improving procurement processes for statewide assessments.