Doug Eury spent 33 years as a public school educator in the state of North Carolina that included seventeen years as classroom teacher and coach.  Classroom teaching assignments consisted of secondary math, middle grades social studies, and secondary physical education.  Coaching duties entailed football, basketball, track and field, golf, and athletic directorship.  The remainder of the public school tenure consisted of administrative experience at the secondary level serving as assistant principal for administration, assistant principal for curriculum and principal of North Rowan High School, North Davidson High School, and West Forsyth High School.  Resume illustrates initiative, creativity, and a strong emphasis on curriculum issues.

Follow the public school tenure, Dr. Eury joined the School of Education faculty at Gardner-Webb University focusing on principal and superintendent preparation.  That emphasis on preparation affords him the expertise in knowledge, skills, and dispositions deemed necessary for successful leadership at the school system level.

Dr. Kathi Harrington Gibson, a native of Richmond County in North Carolina, graduated from Richmond Sr. High School, and furthered her education at the following universities: UNC-Chapel Hill (BA degree in English Education); UNC-Pembroke (MA degree in Educational Administration and Supervision); University of SC in Columbia, SC (Ph.D. in Educational Leadership, Policies, and Social Work). Dr. Gibson’s professional career spans across three decades, working in the following capacities: teacher, assistant principal, principal, supervisor, director, assistant superintendent, associate superintendent, superintendent of schools in two North Carolina school systems, and international educational consultant. Dr. Gibson completed a five-year tenure as a principal mentor for the NetLEAD Project, Department of Educational Leadership at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. Presently, Dr. Gibson works as a Break-Through Coach for District Management Group, serving educators in Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the United States. 

Dr. Rick Watkins is currently an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Wingate University.  In that capacity, Dr. Watkins is directly involved in the training of future school leaders at the masters and doctoral levels.  His current and former students are serving as Superintendents and fulfill key leadership roles in several North Carolina school districts. In addition, he has students serving in some of the largest school districts across the United States.  Dr. Watkins has chaired or served on the dissertation committees of over fifty graduate students involved in providing and publishing current research in the field of public education.  His primary focus as a member of the graduate school faculty is Human Resources Management.  Concurrently, he lectures on Public School Finance and Economics.

Prior to accepting the position at Wingate University, Dr. Watkins served for thirty years as a public educator in North Carolina.  His last assignment was Associate Superintendent for Administrative Services in the Scotland County School District.  Prior to accepting the position in Scotland County, Dr. Watkins worked for twenty –seven years in the Richmond County School District last serving as the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources.  He is an alumnus of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and began his educational career working briefly in New Hanover County at Laney High School before moving back to his hometown to accept the position of Community Schools Coordinator with the Richmond County Schools in February of 1981.  Following a five year stint in that position, Watkins moved on to serve as an Assistant Principal at Rohanen Junior High School, Principal of Monroe Avenue Elementary School and Principal at Hamlet Junior High School.  In addition, Dr Watkins has worked as an Adjunct, Assistant Professor of Education for Saint Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.  He also worked as an educational consultant providing technical assistance to select school districts in the Southeast.

During his tenure Dr. Watkins was recognized by receiving the Governor’s Award for service to the people of North Carolina, Richmond County and District 8 NCAE Assistant Principal of the Year Award, The Richmond County Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Educators Award, Richmond County Schools and Wachovia local Principal of the Year on two occasions, 1994 and 2003.  The Richmond County Principal and Assistant Principal’s Association, W.L. Haltiwanger Award for Commitment to Children and the Richmond County Daily Journal’s Reader’s Choice Award for Best Principal.  Prior to leaving Hamlet Junior High School, Dr. Watkins was named as South Central Region semi-finalist in the North Carolina Principal of the Year competition.  In 2016 Dr. Watkins was named as Graduate Education Faculty member of the year at Wingate University.

Dr. Watkins is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Richmond County Chamber of Commerce and the Scotland County Chamber of Commerce.  He served as an executive committee member of “Richmond 2010” and as a member of the Hamlet All America City Committee.  He is a Past President of the Richmond County Athletic Booster Club and has served as President of the Richmond County Association of Principals and Assistant Principals.  He is a member of the North Carolina Association of School Administrators Division for Professors of Educational Leadership and currently serves as a member of the Teacher Education Committee at Wingate University.

Dr. Watkins and his family are members of Saint Paul Lutheran Church in Hamlet, where he serves as council president.  Dr. Watkins is married to the former Cindy Haltiwanger, a pre-school teacher and they have two children, Lindsay a Speech Pathologist residing in Pinehurst and David a professional golfer residing in Greenville, NC.

Consultant

Dr. Greg Shull currently serves as Director of Communications with Cleveland County Schools in Shelby, North Carolina.

Greg began in the private sector with United Parcel Services, where he achieved the ranking of 1st in the nation - out of nearly 100 communication specialists, supervisors, and managers.  He taught business development, communications, technology, and marketing prior to returning to the area of communications in the education industry.  He and recently retired from PurrCussion as co-founder and instructor of PurrCussion, the official drumline of the Carolina Panthers.

Greg holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, a Master’s in Educational Leadership, and is working toward a doctorate in Organizational Leadership at Gardner-Webb University.

Consultant

Emy Garrett has over 25 years in public school education. During her career, she has served as a teacher, mentor, coach, lead teacher, assistant principal, principal, and Director of Student Services. Since 2009, she has served the students, families, and teachers of Lexington City Schools as the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction.

Emy attended the University of NC at Wilmington on a Prospective Teachers Scholarship, where she graduated with a BA in English and a minor in Child Psychology. She also obtained a Master of English Literature from UNCW. In 1999, Emy received a Master's in School Administration from Appalachian State University.. In 2004, she earned an Ed.S in Educational Leadership from ASU.

Emy's career has centered around providing equitable educational opportunities to children of poverty and growing, empowering, and retaining teacher leaders. She currently provides training opportunities in race and poverty as well as teacher leadership through the cohorts she leads and instructs. She also enjoys supervising student teachers and administrative interns for local colleges and universities, as her schedule will allow.

Outside of school and work, Emy is very active in her community and church, where she serves on various executive boards and councils. She is the lucky wife of Greg and the proud mom of McRay, Kinsey, and Brooks. In her spare time, she likes to read, write, cook, exercise, and take adventures with her family.

Consultant

Dr. Don Martin has served 33 years as a superintendent of schools in four districts – two in Kentucky and two in North Carolina. During his last 19 years, he served as superintendent of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (53,400 students). In 2011, Dr. Martin was named the NC Superintendent of the Year, and in 2009, he received the NC Distinguished Educator Award by the North Carolina Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. He received his undergraduate and master of arts in teaching degrees from Duke University and his Ed. D. in Educational Administration from the University of Kentucky.

Currently, Dr. Martin serves as an adjunct professor at High Point University and as an elected County Commissioner serving Forsyth County, NC.

Areas of expertise: Training superintendents and Boards of Education on how to improve their working relationship; evaluating principals; achieving financial efficiencies and budgeting; developing a comprehensive student assignment plan, passing school bond issues, and constructing schools; and managing politics in the local educational setting.

Consultant

Connie Banks is a public educator with 33 years of experience in the state of South Carolina. Her experience includes sixteen years as an elementary teacher, ten years as a teacher of students who are learning English as a second or other language, and four years as an ESOL Coach. Her coaching duties focus on training educators to incorporate the pedagogy of language acquisition and best practices when addressing accommodations for English learners. Her philosophy centers on we are all English learners and the pedagogy for language acquisition will benefit all students. Connie continues to research the influence of culture and its effect on all students, especially students of poverty.

 Prior to becoming an ESOL Coach in Spartanburg School District Six, Connie taught in Spartanburg School District Two, where she was recently elected to serve on the school board. She served as a board member for Carolina TESOL in the capacity of President and Upstate Representative coordinating conferences to address the needs of educators who teach English learners across North and South Carolina. She coordinated the 2013 South East Regional TESOL Conference. Connie presented at national, regional, state, and local conferences on numerous topics related to English learners. Most recently, she presented at Carolina TESOL with a focus on equal opportunity for ELs through Special Education, as well as participation in Gifted and Talented programs in addition to a segment on SLIFE (Students with Little or Interrupted Formal Education) and Long-Term ELs,

 Connie’s training as a coach was administered by the South Carolina State Department of Education and concentrated extensively on integration of state standards with WIDA standards and guidelines for generating an English learner curriculum. She created a district course, Exploring the WIDA Standards, to train educators on implementation of WIDA standards and utilization MPIs (Model Performance Indicators) within instructional plans based on state content standards. Connie works with educators analyze essential data formulating student profiles to project outcomes. Her plan is visual, easy for all to understand, and beneficial for educators.

 As members of Boiling Springs First Baptist, Connie and her family are actively involved in their community. She served on the nominating committee and was instrumental in raising funds for facility expansions. Her services to the community also include serving on PTA/PTO boards and as a Fire Commissioner for Boiling Springs Fire Department.

Services

• Audit of District/School English Learner/Diverse Learner program

  • Federal and State Department of Education compliance

  • Office of Civil Rights and Department of Justice

• Data analysis of all assessments of English/Diverse Learners

• Create a needs assessment for English/Diverse Learner program

• Development of a strategic plan based on outcomes within needs assessment addressing English/Diverse Learners

  • Professional development addressing English/Diverse Learners

  • Monitor/adjust strategic plan based on new summative data analysis

• Increase student proficiency of English/Diverse Learners

Consultant

Kerry Crutchfield has spent 37 years in school finance in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, including 30+ years as the Chief Financial Officer.  Prior to joining the school system in early 1981, he was in public accounting for four years, auditing WS/FCS, other government programs, insurance companies, textile firms, hospitals, and car dealerships.  While in college, he spent two summers managing a federal grant program for the City of Winston-Salem, providing summer jobs for underprivileged teenagers.  He is a Certified Public Accountant and has served on the Governmental Accounting and Auditing Committee of the North Carolina Association of CPAs since its inception in the early 1980s, serving as its Chairman for two years.  Additionally, he has served as President of the North Carolina Association of School Business Officials and the North Carolina Association of School Administrators.  He has served on the Board of Directors for several Not-for-Profit organizations in the Winston-Salem area.

In addition to managing an annual budget of over $500 million, Kerry loves to teach school finance to other school district finance staff, to principals and assistant principals, to school treasurers (bookkeepers), and to school district auditors.  He has taught courses for CPAs for the American Institute of CPAs in New York, Missouri, and Arkansas.  He has taught or helped teach school finance to education doctoral students at UNC-G, Gardner Webb, and High Point University.  He has served on multiple statewide commissions and study groups, including the Committee that developed the initial charter school application in North Carolina and chairing the Committee that revised the State Uniform Chart of Accounts.  Besides the typical areas of school finance, Kerry also has expertise in compensation plans and benefits selection and administration.  He has provided consulting services for multiple school districts in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Kerry also loves teaching students and fully subscribes to the mantra that all students can (do) learn.  Over the years, he has taught Math Superstars to 3rd and 5th graders in two elementary schools (one high-poverty and one lower-poverty) and Junior Achievement in two high schools and two elementary schools (both higher-poverty elementary schools).

Kerry is a Morehead Scholar graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was the Jack McCall awardee for his class of the Central Office Leadership Program held on campus there.  He is a native of Winston-Salem.  He and his wife, Vicki have three grown sons: Kevin, Andrew, and Jason.  One of his favorite experiences was coaching his sons and their friends for over 10 years in Upward Basketball and YMCA Basketball.  His interests include slow-pitch softball, golf, and reading.