Upah Selected as Agency’s New Chief Student Services Officer

Heartland AEA is pleased to announce the hiring of Kristi Upah as the Agency’s new Chief Student Services Officer. Upah, a 26-year Heartland AEA staff member, will replace Randy Allison, who has served as the Acting Director of Special Education for the past two years.

As the Chief Student Services Officer, Upah will advocate for an appropriate and effective education for all children and youth while fulfilling the responsibilities of the Heartland AEA Director of Special Education. She will collaborate with all work groups at Heartland AEA and with the families, schools and communities Heartland AEA serves. She will be the Agency’s liaison to the Iowa Department of Education for special education and related services and will represent Heartland AEA in the statewide AEA Special Education Directors’ Network.

Upah has devoted her career to serving students and educators in the Heartland AEA service area. Since 1993, she has served as a school psychologist, Staff Development Specialist for School Psychology, Supervisor of School Psychological Services, Assistant Director of Innovation & Accountability and Regional Director.


As a regional director, Upah has provided coordination and leadership for the provision of AEA services to districts and schools within Boone and Story counties. Other responsibilities during this time have included coordination of special education job-alike groups and providing direct support to job-alike facilitators and lead teams, facilitation and participation in professional development design and delivery workgroups (PBIS, Behavior Capacity Building, Math Capacity Building, Child Find Professional Learning Cadre) and participation in agency special education leadership workgroups.

Upah earned her PK-12 Administrator/Supervisor of Special Education Endorsement from Drake University, a Ph.D. in psychology with a school psychology emphasis from Iowa State University, a specialist degree in school psychology from Iowa State and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Iowa State.

She will begin her new duties on July 1, 2019.