About LSF
Capacity builder LeadingSchools Forward was launched in 2017 thanks to support from UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, and Covey-endorsed People Ink. Today, following significant experience in the field and scholarly research, our mission is to enable leaders of schools, systems, and state departments/colleges of education to distribute trust and related long-term continuous student improvement.
Rich has supported elementary, middle, and high school communities to create culture and system/district leaders to increase their related capacity. He has also conducted corresponding studies as a Ph.D. student. Previously, he led the collaborative turnaround of two charter and two district schools, Pk-12, and the continued improvement of an elite college preparatory school. In the field of organizational development, he is a part of the People Ink coaching tree led by Ann Rhoades and Gayle Watson. His passion for sustainable cohesion and associated student progress follows an early teacher’s transformational impact on his life and growing up in a racially diverse family including stepcousins killed and imprisoned following gang-related violence. Finally, he is a third-generation educator who continues to spend significant time in the classroom. (His grandfather, Theodore led the integration of the schools represented in Remember the Titans.) Formerly from North Carolina, he, Amy, and their son Cole reside in Colorado.
PEOPLE INK Chief Operating Officer Gayle Watson has helped create cultures across many professions, including patient-centered medicine and higher education. She has over 30 years of experience working in and partnering with numerous U.S. and global organizations. Before that, she was an experienced chief learning officer for a large organization in which she was responsible for culture transformation, organizational and leadership development, and talent management. She is also a national leader for women entrepreneurs, having served as Board Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners and as a board member for the Center for Women’s Business Research. She serves on the board of directors for New Mexico Community Capital, a private, non-profit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Gayle lives in Bella Vista, Arkansas. She is an avid golfer along with her husband Grant. To learn more about Gayle, Ann, and the rest of the team, go to www.peopleink.com.