Debra Wheat

Debra has spent much of her professional career in the education world. She taught at a large urban public high school in Montgomery County, Maryland; a small K-12 international private school in Sao Paulo, Brazil; and an innovative place-based public charter school in Tucson, Arizona. Raised in Washington, DC she has been active in politics and civil service since an early age. She served on the President’s Commission for Education where she co-hosted a conference with President Clinton and lobbied for education reform. In addition to teaching, her education sector experience includes being a member of the board of education, mentoring, curriculum development, renovation project management, staff development training, consulting and grant writing. Her business experience lies in marketing, community outreach, strategy, negotiations, and art gallery management. As an Education Pioneers fellow, she worked with ACE Consulting to implement a “Principal’s Academy” where principals from 75 schools developed strategic plans and learned to be “mission-driven academic leaders.” She also designed a comprehensive assessment tool to help schools gather and interpret data about their marketing initiatives. After completing a dual degree program at Thunderbird School of International Management she plans to open a school focused on sustainability and international service projects that embraces the way both students and teachers approach education in the 21st century.