The aim of this article is to provide a description of the profile of education administrators working in public and private institutions of basic and medium education in strata 1 to 4 in the city of Santiago de Cali, through demographic, socio-economic, academic and professional features. The article is the result of an investigation into the conditions for implementing Colombian education policy. The study used a survey which was answered by 70 school administrators from 46 educational institutions in the city. The results showed that the typical profile of the school administrator corresponds to women aged 50-60 who had contact with the English language during their secondary school studies, have a specialist degree at the highest level of education achieved and have professional experience of more than 11 years. Differences were found between the public and private sectors: in the former, managers have a higher level of academic education and better salaries. The results suggest that there is a need for more support for the training of private sector managers and better economic recognition of the work of teaching managers in both sectors.