The New Trier High School Board of Education approved Lauren Owens to be New Trier High School’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the 2026-2027 school year on Jan. 26, finalizing a search for previous CTO, and 33-year New Trier employee, Michael Marassa’s replacement. Owens will assume the CTO position on July 1 of this year.
Owens has been the Executive Director of Technology at Agua Fria Union High School District (Agua Fria) since 2023. She also worked in other technology related jobs since 2018 and was a Spanish teacher before that, all at Agua Fria. Owens was also a Spanish teacher at Clinton Public Schools from 2012 to 2014.
As a Spanish teacher at two different schools between 2012 to 2018, Owens has learned how to adapt, teaching students across all grades, ages 13 to 18, and skill levels, from beginner to advanced. Sometimes, Owens had to teach a beginner freshman and a fluent junior in the same Spanish class. Because of this variation, Owens had to modify her lessons so that they would work for every student.
“I was having [the students] make websites in Spanish, presenting and doing interviews, and doing crime scenes in Spanish,” Owens said. “I was really doing kind of off-the-wall things in the classroom that were creative solutions to engage kids.”
With her combined experience of working with a varied audience and making complicated subjects more simple, Owens felt it was natural to transition to the world of technology in 2018 due to the wide spectrum of technology experience among students and staff at Agua Fria. Beginning as a tech integration specialist, Owens settled into a more administrative role during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was just me and our assistant superintendent and we got our school to go fully online within three days,” Owens said. “Because of that, it put me in a role of [where] I was one of the only people who understood the IT side of the house and teaching and learning.”
Now, as CTO, Owens’ job is similar to her current job as Executive Director of Technology at Agua Fria; Owens will oversee New Trier’s technology systems, including its wifi network and cybersecurity. However, while her previous position included building technology systems from the ground up, at New Trier, Owens’ job is centered around renovating and improving New Trier’s current established technology systems.
“Here it’s rapid growth,” Owens said. “It’s brand new schools. We have people moving to the suburb I live in constantly, where New Trier is more established.”
Owens plans to use her first year at New Trier as an opportunity to get to know her colleagues, the students, and the technology systems she will be working with.
“The first year’s goal is really to listen and learn,” Owens said. “Then, create really strong relationships and a foundation with the staff and administration, technology team, and students.”
Once she finishes her first year as CTO and understands the school’s strengths, Owens’ goal is to help her colleagues achieve their own personal goals.
“That’s really how I see technology—helping everyone else to do their job easier or learn in a different way,” Owens said. “It’s really [about] facilitating goals of others.”
As CTO, Owens also looks forward to learning about New Trier’s stance on AI. Owens believes that by improving students’ AI literacy skills, she will better prepare them for the workforce.
“AI literacy is a skill set that we need as a society now—not just staff, not just students—and AI usage doesn’t necessarily equate to AI literacy,” Owens said. “So I think having a common understanding of what the technology is, what it can and cannot be used for and what it should and should not be used for is essential for any career.”
Additionally, Owens plans to further the conversation of AI with New Trier staff. Owens believes that if teachers and administrators are comfortable with the technology, then it will be easier to communicate their expectations surrounding AI with students.
“If teachers aren’t comfortable talking about it or [don’t] have their own understanding, it does make facilitating those conversations harder with students,” Owens said. “Students do go to them as the expert—that is who they have their relationship with, [and] who they work with and collaborate with. So ensuring that teachers feel confident and comfortable [with the technology] is always going to be a priority.”
Owens, who currently works in Arizona, has visited New Trier’s East and West campuses several times and plans to visit New Trier at least once a month until she assumes the CTO position on July 1. Additionally, Owens is communicating weekly over call with her future team members, including deputy superintendent Chris Johnson as well as her soon-to-be predecessor Marassa.
“Dr. Marassa, the retiring CTO, has been amazing sending me emails, updates, files, all sorts of things,” Owens said. “So when I have free time at my current job, then I’m able to just start diving in and learning and asking questions.”
Owens is excited to work at New Trier because, growing up in Bloomington-Normal, Owens has been familiar with New Trier since high school at Bloomington High School–especially in terms of its exceptional athletic program.
“We [Owens and her husband, who is also from Bloomington-Normal] both knew of New Trier’s teams,” Owens said.
Yet from a more professional perspective, New Trier stood out to Owens for its community focus and academic rigor.
“The bond with the community—that to me is so rare and special,” Owens said. “It is woven into every piece of every person I have talked to.”
To Owens, what makes her current job worth it and her future job exciting is seeing the results from her technology plans working.
“The best part of my job really is getting to see students do really cool things [when] they’re not even thinking about technology,” Owens said. “Technology [at school] should just be like your phone—you don’t even think about your phone. You’re not like, ‘oh my gosh, I hope it works today.’ Of course it is. And so I think being excited to see all the ways that students are leading and doing things that are extraordinary [is what] I’m excited to learn about.”