Brad Tipka, Ed.D. 브래드 팊카
Executive Director
btipka@sejongacademy.org

Dr. Tipka is an educator with over twenty-five years of experience as a teacher, teacher-trainer and school leader. He studied K-12 English Education/ESL at St. Cloud State, completed his Master’s in TESOL at the School for International Training and his Ed.D. from the University of St. Thomas is Educational Leadership.  Prior to Sejong Academy, Dr. Tipka was Director of Lincoln International High School in Minneapolis. He has also served as an Instructional Specialist/Coach at Noble Academy in Minneapolis. He spent five years teaching in Korea including positions at Dong A University in Busan and Seoul National University of Technology. He also served as an English Language Teaching Fellow with the US Department of State for three years in Indonesia and Malaysia. Dr. Tipka believes in the transformational power of intercultural experience and language study. He is passionate about Korean language and culture and believes the study of Korean language and culture will be an amazing educational option for students in Minnesota. He lives in Roseville with his wife and daughter, a former Sejong Academy white tiger.

Yun K Cho. 조윤경
Lower School Principal
ykcho@sejongacademy.org

Mrs. Cho grew up on three different continents: Asia for elementary school, Africa for middle and high school, and America for college and beyond. She earned a BA in Oral Communications and Speech Communication with double minors in Promotional Communication and French from St. Catherine University and her MA in Elementary Education from Fairfield University in Connecticut. She completed her Education Specialist degree with K-12 Principal Licensure Program from Concordia University, St. Paul.

Prior to becoming the director, she earned over ten years of classroom teaching experience: four years teaching 4th, 5th and 2nd grade in several traditional public schools and six years teaching 3rd through 5th grade at Sejong. As one of the founding teachers of Sejong Academy, she served the school community as the Lead Teacher for three years and this past year as the Instructional Coach. She is always a teacher at heart and strongly believes in a Community of Learners. She will implement Schoolwide Responsive Classroom Management to help our students learn with joy and achieve their highest potential in a friendly, respectful learning environment. 

In this new leadership role as director, she’ll work hard to epitomize internationally-minded leadership, actively inspiring, engaging, and transforming others in the interest of our community’s shared goals and modeling compassionate relationships, constructive coaching, and shared accountability. The values that guide her mission are diversity, relationships, constructive coaching, collaboration, and reflection. In our learning community, members of Sejong Academy will welcome, appreciate, and utilize diversity; promote positive relationships; commit to continuous professional growth; collaborate with a strong sense of shared responsibility, and utilize self-reflection and co-reflection to reexamine and improve current practices.

At home, she is blessed to be a wife to her husband and a mother to her two sons. Just like she loves her family, she loves Sejong Academy, our students, their families, and our teachers. In a nutshell, Sejong Academy will become a true Community of Learners where inspiring teachers, engaged students, supportive parents, and equitable stakeholders believe in the transformational power of educational partnership and mutually respect every individual’s humanity. This is our goal as we come together to educate the future global leaders of the more diverse, equitable, and inclusive world that is to be.

Lisa Maren Thompson. 리사 마렌 톰슨
Upper School Principal & International Baccalaureate (IB) Coordinator
lthompson@sejongacademy.org

Ms. Thompson (she/her/hers) holds a BA Fine Arts from St. Olaf College, a Masters of Arts in Teaching from the University of St. Thomas, the Certificate of Advanced Education Leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the Specialist in Educational Leadership degree (EdS) with Minnesota K-12 Principal license. She has lived in the US, Thailand, Mauritania, Gabon, South Korea, Ghana, and Switzerland, and has participated in International Baccalaureate training events and conferences in Princeton, Vancouver, Florence, The Hague, Accra, Les Tapies, Vienna, and Minneapolis. Ms. Thompson enjoys spending time with her husband Andy, their two adult sons, attending arts events, visiting Minnesota state parks and sharing meals with friends and family.