Kaitlyn Liao

Kaitlyn Liao is Vice President of Finance and Administration for Palo Alto Partners in Education (PiE), the education foundation supporting Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD). She leads PiE’s Finance and Administration Committee, overseeing accounting and finance, HR, Innovation Grant program administration, facilities, and information management, building the controls, workflows, and systems that keep funding and programs running reliably.

Kaitlyn brings deep PiE leadership and institutional knowledge, having served as PiE Board President, Executive Vice President, Vice President of Marketing, and Leadership Circle Director.

Her volunteer leadership reflects a long-term commitment to school communities both locally and abroad. In support of the PAUSD Community, she currently serves as Palo Alto High School (Paly) PTSA Executive Vice President and previously served as Paly PTSA Vice President of Communications, Greene PTA Treasurer, and Walter Hays PTA Treasurer. Internationally, she has served on the American School in Japan (ASIJ) and Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS) PTA Executive Boards, as well as the ASIJ Board of Trustees.

Professionally, Kaitlyn develops and optimizes organizational business processes, currently as an independent real estate advisor with Compass and previously as a marketing programs manager at AMD, creating efficient workflows, clear operating cadences, and measurement-driven systems that enable consistent execution. While living in Tokyo, she founded and operated STEAMbuilders, a robotics and coding after-school enrichment program for students at international private schools, leading hiring and training, curriculum development, and day-to-day operations. She also has experience as a startup founder based in San Francisco and began her career at MIT’s Information Systems department as a consultant supporting the President, Provost, and Chancellor’s Offices while managing a team of student consultants delivering high-quality, campus-wide support. She holds an MIT degree in Environmental Engineering and applies an analytical, systems-oriented approach to operational stewardship and organizational effectiveness.