Will Gowen

Teacher-Powered Ambassador

Will Gowen is a social studies educator, former school leader, and organizational consultant with over a decade of experience in educational organizations, currently serving as Expansion Grant Project Manager and Educator at Next Charter School in Derry, NH.

Throughout his career, he has worked across public, private and charter schools, job-training programs, and farm-to-school initiatives, including director roles at LEAF Charter School (NH) and School Around Us (ME). An emerging focus on distributed power and democracy within schools led him to coordinate what began as a student agency initiative at Morey Flextech High School (MI) that grew into whole-school sociocracy implementation, a collaborative governance method that distributes decision-making power among all stakeholders (leadership, staff, students, etc.).

Now a certified sociocracy facilitator focused on varying approaches to distributed leadership, Will is passionate about helping educational communities navigate collaborative governance and create more equitable educational environments. He’s currently conducting a listening project on democratic decision-making in schools with educators and school leaders worldwide to understand implementation successes, challenges and lessons learned.

When not at school, you can find him hiking, cooking, watching basketball, or playing D&D, and he’s always up for a good high five!