An experienced early childhood learning and development professional, Lex Zain has worked for the Leaders In Our Neighborhood (LION) Charter School in the Bronx as the chief academic officer since 2021. Her primary responsibilities in this position entail leading a team of 120 educators and administrators, developing curricula for a K-12 student body, and managing an academic budget of around $500,000. Lex Zain also manages relations and communications between the school’s board of trustees and stakeholders. Before advancing to the role of chief academic officer at LION, she spent nearly a decade as the charter school’s middle school director, a position that involved overseeing all continuity strategies and managing the development of the middle school curriculum, among other leadership activities. Her time as middle school director saw the charter school adopt various educational technologies and innovative teaching models.
Lex Zain is a magna cum laude psychology graduate of Middlebury College. She holds a master of arts in teaching from PACE University in New York City and a master of education from Teachers College at Columbia University.