Vero Beach, Florida, United States
As Superintendent of the School District of Indian River County, I have the privilege of serving alongside extraordinary educators, staff, students, families, and community partners who believe every child deserves an exceptional education and limitless opportunities to succeed. Public education changes lives. Every decision we make should create greater opportunities for students, strengthen our schools, and prepare young people to thrive in college, careers, military service, and life. That belief has guided my career and continues to shape our work every day. Throughout my career, I have focused on building high-performing organizations by developing exceptional leaders, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, and using data to inform decisions while never losing sight of the individual child behind every measure of success. Before joining the School District of Indian River County, I served in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, where I led one of the nation's most significant school improvement efforts, reducing the percentage of D and F schools from 83 percent to just 1 percent. Today, I am proud to serve a district that has emerged as one of Florida's highest-performing public school systems, reflecting the collective efforts of dedicated educators, engaged families, supportive community partners, and an unwavering commitment to excellence. I am honored to have been named the 2025 Florida Superintendent of the Year and a 2025 National Superintendent of the Year Finalist. While these recognitions are deeply meaningful, they represent the work of an entire community committed to ensuring every child has the opportunity to succeed. Leadership is about building trust, empowering others, and creating systems where people can do their very best work. Lasting success is never the result of one individual. It is achieved when students, educators, families, business leaders, elected officials, and community members unite around a shared purpose. I am passionate about educational leadership, organizational excellence, workforce development, and strengthening public education through meaningful partnerships and innovative thinking. I enjoy collaborating with educators, business leaders, policymakers, and community organizations to create opportunities that benefit students and the communities they will one day lead. Together, we are preparing the next generation of leaders and strengthening the future of Indian River County. Connected by Community. Inspiring and Preparing Every Student to Succeed.
Lead one of Florida's highest-performing public school districts, serving more than 17,000 students across Florida's Treasure Coast. Provide strategic leadership for academic achievement, organizational excellence, operational effectiveness, and community engagement while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. Key accomplishments: • Led the District's transformation from 38th in Florida to one of the state's highest-performing public school districts, maintaining a Top Five statewide ranking for two consecutive years. • Guided the District to four consecutive A district grades, placing SDIRC among only 16 Florida school districts to sustain this level of academic excellence. • Increased the percentage of A-rated traditional public schools to 96%, with 23 of 24 traditional public schools earning an A and every charter school earning an A. • Advanced student achievement, with the District ranking among Florida's Top 10 in nine of the state's 12 accountability components, including Top Five rankings in Grade 3 English Language Arts, Middle School Acceleration, and College & Career Acceleration. • Expanded access to rigorous academics, career and technical education, industry certifications, Advanced Placement, and dual enrollment opportunities. • Strengthened leadership capacity by developing high-performing school leaders and aligning district systems around accountability, innovation, and student success. • Cultivated meaningful partnerships with families, businesses, higher education institutions, municipalities, and community organizations to expand opportunities for students. Honors • 2025 Florida Superintendent of the Year • 2025 National Superintendent of the Year Finalist
-Served as the Assistant Superintendent of the nation’s fourth largest school district with 348,000 students across 326 schools. Initially responsible for Exceptional Student Education, Life Skills, Visual/Performing Arts, Student Services and School Improvement. Led school turnaround, school improvement, and student services.
-Led the expansion efforts of the Education Transformation Office to include principal and teacher professional development for 40 additional schools during 2012; then by an additional 42 schools in 2013 for a total of 108 schools. · Developed a live, comprehensive communication log for leadership teams and district support personnel to strategically align development needs and accelerate student performance. · Redesigned the instructional review process in order to maximize the external support provided by clearly defining instructional developmental needs and aligning resources to improve instructional practice. · Established bi-weekly updates, a resource for principals and leadership teams that provides the instructional foci for the upcoming weeks including exemplar work samples. · Established the graduation coach position in order to ensure all students are provided with every opportunity to fulfill graduation requirements. · Designed the District Support Formula used to identify the appropriate level of support for all schools within the district.
-Transformed student achievement outcomes at this Title I high school by improving the school grade from an “F” to an “A” over a two-year period. -Maintained grade of “A” for two consecutive years. -Improved graduation rate from 58.2% to 78.3%, an improvement of 20.1 percentage points, over the three-year period. -Improved reading proficiency by 9 percentage points over the three-year period.