Marco Sausa

Marco Sausa is the Director of Research and Evaluation at America’s Promise Alliance (APA). Marco brings more than 15 years of experience as a transformational and collaborative leader successfully spearheading high-impact strategies, driving large-scale organizational change management, and delivering operational excellence. His passion lies at the nexus of strategy, innovation, and equity.

Prior to joining APA, Marco was a Strategy Consultant and part of the Leadership Team of the Strategy & Transformation Group at Kamehameha Schools (KS). KS is a multi-billion-dollar charitable trust created to improve the well-being of Native Hawaiians. He worked directly with the CEO and Executive Leadership Team, and led a portfolio of senior-level, organization-wide strategic initiatives and functions that built new enterprise infrastructures and strategic partnerships. His portfolio of work resulted in greater organizational, community, and network impact, and improved business intelligence, organizational effectiveness, and strategic performance metrics and reporting. Before KS, Marco was the Director of Institutional Effectiveness at Hawai‘i Pacific University. He established a new strategic unit focused on strategic positioning and organizational effectiveness. He directed the research, development, implementation, and evaluation of key executive strategic initiatives that achieved organizational goals, accelerated enterprise growth, enhanced policies, programs, and services, and improved learner and talent outcomes.

Marco earned a Ph.D. in Education, Culture, and Society from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education Leadership Division, where he graduated with top honors and was awarded the university’s Honor of Distinction. He is also the recipient of the California State Assembly Certificate of Recognition for Community Education and Research, and the California State Board of Equalization Outstanding Individual Award. Furthermore, he holds an advanced certification in Program and Portfolio Management, and multiple certificates in Agile Project Management, Business Intelligence, and Enterprise Change Management.