The Nevada State Public Charter School Authority has a new executive director.

Gov. Steve Sisolak appointed Rebecca Feiden — the acting director of the Nevada Achievement School District — to the post Tuesday. She starts her new role April 16.

The Achievement School District is a program within the Nevada Department of Education that converts underperforming traditional public schools into charters in an effort to improve them. As director and then acting executive director, Feiden oversaw charter school sponsoring and helped launch the first four charter schools within the Achievement School District.

The SPCSA Board recommended Feiden to Sisolak last month after a search for a new executive director. The Charter Authority’s former executive director, Patrick Gavin, resigned in November after an apparent rift between him and the board.

“As a lifelong educator with both administrative and classroom experience in charter schools, Rebecca is uniquely qualified to lead the State Public Charter School Authority,” Sisolak said in a statement. “I am thrilled to appoint Rebecca to spearhead Nevada’s public charter school program as we set course to improve Nevada's public education system.”

Feiden started as a science teacher for the School District of Philadelphia before teaching at a Philadelphia charter school and eventually becoming managing director of operations for Scholar Academies, a charter management organization. She has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from Wesleyan University and a teaching certificate from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.

The SPCSA oversees state-sponsored charter schools in Nevada. Charter schools are a growing segment of the state’s K-12 portfolio, with more than 42,000 students attending charters that fall under the umbrella of the SPCSA.