Brian L. Carpenter, PhD, CFE, Recovering School Leader
What I Do
Here’s the short version: I combine my five-plus decades of real-world experience (having started working, like many people, at age 15) with the analytical, creative, and communicative abilities God gave me to help others achieve their goals while achieving my own.
The longer answer is, well, longer, and, if I’m being candid, a bit of a yawner. But since you’re here:
I’ve been doing something-or-other in education since the late 1980s, starting with collegiate teaching and counseling and eventually going on to lead both private Christian schools and public charter schools. Since 2005, my focus has been on helping the public charter school sector fulfill its promise. Although I’m not exactly a charter “OG” because the space was about a dozen years along when I showed up, I’ve had the privilege of helping shape the sector by contributing to critical conversations on sound governance, robust financial oversight, and proactive risk management. (Told you it was a yawner.)
Today, I partner with school leaders, governing boards, authorizers, and attorneys who share my professional goal: great schools of choice that improve people’s lives. I consult, speak at conferences, present training seminars and webinars, author content, and conduct HR and fraud investigations (holding credentials not commonly found among educators).
If you are a school leader, board member, authorizer, association executive, conference organizer, or attorney, click the calendar button below to book a free, no-obligation Zoom call to discuss whether I’m the right fit to help you or the schools you work with.
My new Board Development DIY Workbook is here! Grab single copies on Amazon for $40, or buy a 10-pack directly from me and save 20% ($32 each).
(for an additional discount on purchases of more than ten , please contact me directly)
The Effective Charter School Board: A DIY Development Workbook
Stop struggling with board-level friction and start building an elite governance team. Built across two decades of client engagements, this newly expanded workbook of over 100 pages is now available as a complete self-guided board development tool.
Easy to work through as a board across 10 or 12 meetings. Key topics and tools include:
My Board CHAMPS Model: Master the 6 core differences between governing and managing.
Collision Avoidance: 5 root causes of board-CEO conflict and 7 practical ways to prevent them.
Financial Oversight & Risk Management: My Three-E Model, 21 financial red flags, 21 essential internal control topics, and how to create heat maps for assessing risk.
Plug-and-Play Templates: Chief Executive job description, Director and Officer Code of Conduct, meeting minutes format, PTO MOUs, and bi-monthly Chief Executive reports.
Academic Governance: My 4-sided framework for evaluating school performance.
Includes full answer keys and guided reflection questions to drive immediate results.
Books & Workbooks
(linked to Amazon)
The Effective Charter School Board: A Board Development Workbook
Charter School Board University: An Introduction to Effective Charter School Governance
The Seven Outs: Strategic Planning for Charter Schools Made Easy
Governing for Greatness: Ten Fundamentals Every Charter School Board Member Needs To Know
Save Your Ship! Systematic Risk Management for Charter Schools
FREE Training Resources
If you’d like to receive free training materials that you can use with your board, simply subscribe. After you confirm your email, you can download the PDF pictured to the right titled, “Follow the Money! It’s Not Financial Oversight if the Board Isn’t Looking” (4th ed.) Then keep an eye on your email because I produce new content periodically.
TEDx Talk
Click the image to watch a 15-minute a TEDx talk I was invited to give by the Charter Schools Institute at Erskine (CIE) in April 2025. It was titled “Advice We Give to Boards that is Almost Useful.”
It was definitely not my best presentation because I was nervous in front of the camera, but heh, it’s not everyday you get invited to speak at a TEDx event.