Kawai Lai is a designer, facilitator, and strategy consultant helping organizations make the abstract more concrete. She is a co-founder of VizLit, an organization with the mission to unlock the visual minds of students and educators. Formerly, she served as the Vice President of Innovation at the National Association of Independent Schools, a non-profit serving over 1,800 schools and 730K students across the country and abroad. In her role, she helped schools reimagine education, build capacity to innovate, and share stories of authentic progress. Kawai was a founding team member of Education Elements, an ed tech startup working with the most forward-thinking public school districts and charters across the country to personalize learning. Prior to a career in education, Kawai spent a decade in consulting and technology, implementing large scale technology systems with Deloitte, working in different industries including healthcare, biotech, and aerospace. She has an MBA from Haas, UC Berkeley and a BS in mechanical engineering from Southern Methodist University.
