A Career And A Calling: A Spotlight On Soren Gutierrez
A Career And A Calling: A Spotlight On Soren Gutierrez
Soren is many things – a New York native, an army vet, a husband, and a dog dad. But he’s been many things before and between, including an Executive Assistant and Project Manager on Wall Street. He’s seen Germany and Iraq, the inside of private jets and more ginger root than he’d care to in his lifetime (you’ll have to ask). His tough exterior is equally matched by his soft center and desire to serve, qualities that have steered his life for over 20 years.
“I started my educational and professional career in the military by attending West Point and serving five years in the Army as an Infantry Officer. I was stationed at Fort Benning (now Fort Moore, Georgia) and in Germany and did a 13 month tour to Iraq in 2006,” says Soren. “After active duty, I worked in New York City for two years as both an Executive Assistant and Project Manager for a very wealthy individual and had an opportunity to actually start a parochial school on his behalf.”
Despite what seemed like an impressive career, Soren struggled with the transition from the military to civilian life. The financial sector wasn’t a fit for him, and although he felt the smallest glimmer of light when he launched the parochial school, he still had a difficult time finding his footing back in society.
“I was in the National Guard in the traditional ‘one weekend a month/two weeks a year’ model and that really helped me transition, especially meeting and talking with the other combat veterans about our experiences,” Soren explains. “After two years, I took a full-time job with the National Guard on a National Guard Disaster Response for the East Coast.”
Unfortunately, with the Disaster Response position came a lot of travel, and Soren was looking to settle down. So, he began seeking other opportunities and found an open position for a Director of Operations with a classroom-based charter school network called Achievement First at one of their Connecticut middle schools. That light that Soren had felt while opening the parochial school flickered a bit brighter, and after two years of working at Achievement First, he decided to continue pursuing his own education. A Master’s in Business Administration and a move to California later, Soren is now in his eighth year at Visions and has become a veteran leader in the organization.
“Over the years I have appreciated Soren’s ability to add value to our school by improving our systems, processes and approaches by sharing his lens of systematic thinking and common sense approaches to our work,” says Chief Operations Officer, Tom Tafoya. “He helps take our creative thinking to the next level through this lens.”
As the Director of Accountability & Data Services, Soren’s job is extremely multi-faceted. He oversees three different departments in the organization – Enrollment, Assessments, and Internal Data & Systems Services – each with their own bodies of work. From enrolling thousands of new students every year to supporting all local and state assessments efforts to overseeing a team that provides a variety of systems and analytical support to our teachers, principals and staff, Soren’s role is never short of impacted.
“The IDSS Department does a lot behind-the-scenes to make sure systems work for our teachers and families, everything from checking that all of our K-8 students are rostered in i-Ready to reconciling invoices from our Special Education services providers to creating class registration workbooks for our teachers and counselors to easily collaborate and select classes for next semester,” explains Soren. “Given Visions’ large size and scale, there are a lot of opportunities to make things easier and faster, and our team strives to deliver those efficiencies.”
Working closely with SPED, Counseling, Student Services, and Instruction, Soren not only leans on his strong group of managers and analysts, but also his military background and extensive leadership skills to help his teams and other departments in the organization find success.
“We’ve adopted the After Action Review (AAR) process that I used in the military to consistently review the results of projects and initiatives to find out what went well as well as opportunities for improvement,” says Soren. “It’s great to see good ideas come to fruition and get improved over time.”
An Extension of Service
From serving his country to serving our students, Soren is proud of the path he’s taken to get to where he is. He speaks of his journey with candor and of course, some humor, and remains intentional about how he shows up in every space. For him, working at Visions is an extension of his service, that ever-growing light that’s allowed him to shine from the inside out.
“I believe charter schools are vital to improving education in California and America and that Visions as a nonclassroom-based school has an opportunity to serve countless students that may not ‘fit’ in traditional brick and mortar schools,” says Soren. “I see working for Visions as an opportunity to continue to serve my community.”
Soren is now settled in Auburn with his wife, Cassandra, whom he met while stationed in Germany (and the reason for his move across the country, which Soren says was “the best decision ever”), and their two German Shorthaired Pointers. They share memories of the Elvis Presley festival that took place while they were both in Freidberg, their wedding in Key West, and their early years together on the East Coast. Since then, Soren is proud to say that he has found a career and a calling, his role at Visions representative of his lifelong service.
“For a variety of reasons, my wife wasn’t successful in high school until she was able to do independent study and then she bloomed, and now she has a successful career and not only is the first college graduate in her family, but she also earned a Master’s degree,” Soren shares. “Visions provides that opportunity for so many students and I am so proud and happy to work with our amazing staff and teachers to be a part of it.”
More About Soren
“My father was Colombian (hence Gutierrez) and my mother is of Swedish descent (hence Soren) so I’ve got a unique set of names.”
“Despite completing Airborne and Ranger school, I hate heights, falling and motion – no roller coasters for me!”
“Graduation is the most rewarding and favorite day of the year – it’s a huge event that takes months and months of planning but it is awesome to be there and to see hundreds of our students and families graduate and prepare for their next steps in life. It’s a long day but exhilarating!”
