Jesse Rector
Chief Programs Officer
Lit
At Lit, we're building a world where every kid, everywhere, is a reader. We partner with school system leaders to help them build, implement, and sustain reading ecosystems that live at the intersection of research and instructional equity. Jesse Rector is the Chief Program Officer at Lit, charged with designing programs and products to support Lit's mission and leading internal team development. Prior to his time at Lit, Jesse spent nine and half years at Relay Graduate School of Education, where he founded Relay’s leadership programs. Under his leadership, Relay’s National Principals Academy Fellowship and National Principal Supervisors Academy Fellowship grew to train over 1,000 leaders a year across 28 states. Jesse also helped to develop coaching programs for school and systems-level leaders that supported the implementation of the learning from the fellowship programs. Before his time at Relay, Jesse spent sixteen years teaching and leading schools in Newark, New Jersey, where he worked first for the Newark Public Schools and then at North Star Academy, where he helped to found and eventually lead North Star’s second middle school, North Star Academy Clinton Hill. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and a master’s in organizational leadership from Columbia University. Jesse is the proud father of Bernie and Chuck, who amaze him daily with their humor, kindness, and curiosity. He is also an avid surfer and a devout fan of Tottenham Hotspur FC, a soccer (football) team from London.