About Us
We get it because we’ve lived it.
Gavin Doughty
Founder/CEO
Gavin is the founder and CEO of RespondAbility. A 15 year veteran of the Chicago Public Schools (Director of Performance Management, Director of Enterprise Architecture) and the State of Illinois (Deputy Chief Operating Officer and interim CIO for the Central Management Services agency), Gavin has a passion for leading teams, building processes and driving improved results.
At CPS he was responsible for the creation of the nationally recognized Turnaround Performance Management framework and for building CPS’ Information Security and Enterprise Architecture departments.
In his deep experience with both educational and government management Gavin has gained a keen appreciation of what’s truly important for success: exceptional communication, the ability to work across multiple organizational levels and the focus to unify educators behind one goal – providing students with a better educational experience. Gavin has built RespondAbility from the ground up with this transformative approach at the forefront.
Edward Morris Jr.
VP of Educator Engagement
Edward Morris Jr. is passionate about building the capacity of leaders who carry a vision for changing lives and fulfilling social enterprise-centric missions with excellence. Ed committed to his passion first serving as a teacher, then as principal and aspiring principal developer and coach in Chicago.
He brings to RespondAbility several years of insight and influence in education reform having served in director and executive roles for 3 national education non-profits (New Leaders, Leap Innovations, and Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity). Through Visionport LLC., where he serves as president, he is honored to team with and work for RespondAbility and the organizations we partner with.
Augie Emuwa
RespondAbility Coach
Augustine “Augie” Emuwa is an educator & entrepreneur dedicated to creating social impact through equity driven innovation and service . The Chicago native spent nine years in school leadership (and almost 20 years as an educator) where the experience of leading in underserved communities sparked his passion for writing, storytelling and public narrative. Currently, he serves as lead consultant at Identity Capital Consulting where he directly supports legacy improvement and brand positioning for schools, companies and nonprofit organizations.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and Management from Jackson State University, a Master’s of Arts in Teaching with a focus on diverse learning and an additional Master’s degree in School Administration & Organizational Change from Roosevelt University. Additionally, Augie received direct leadership training through New Leaders (a national principal selection pipeline founded at Harvard University) along with a multitude of experiences and mentors in both the public and private sectors.
John Gaidies
RespondAbility Coach
John Gaidies, VP of Partner Success, is an educator and Project Manager with 20 years in the K12 technology industry. John’s experience includes teaching in international schools, as well as providing teacher recertification and graduate courses in Charleston County School District (CCSD), and delivering tech integration workshops to teachers across the US.
While serving CCSD, John also managed the technology implementation for two multimillion-dollar federal school improvement grants and a large custom software development project. In addition, John has dedicated himself to the Float Don’t Fight nonprofit, helping to build the organization through the start-up stage.
Justine Gonzalez
RespondAbility Coach
After teaching and serving as a literacy coach in Indianapolis Public Schools, Justine was trained to be a principal through a leadership program that began at Harvard called New Leaders. She then served as an administrator in Chicago Public Schools’ turnaround network, AUSL. Following her time in Chicago, she became a founding Principal and Regional Director for a network of 10 high school campuses across Indiana.
Justine is the co-author of The Social Capital Quotient and serves as a founding board member for the Midwest Center for Social Services and The MILA Foundation, a Houston-based nonprofit.
Kenyatta Starks
RespondAbility Coach
Kenyatta is a transformational leader, having experience working throughout the west and south side communities of Chicago and the South Suburbs. In her 24 years of experience in education, Kenyatta has served as a teacher, Dean, Assistant Principal Principal, and Deputy Chief of School Transitions for several schools and has served as Director of the CICS Longwood campus and Chief Education Officer for Empowered Community, a Charter Management Organization. Dr. Starks has developed leaders in instruction, data, leadership capacity, SEL, and educational equity. Also, during her tenure with Charter Schools USA, she led an Administrator Academy for Principals, Assistant Principals, and Deans in the Charter Schools USA Network.
David Schuler
Advisor
Dr. David R. Schuler is a national education leader, former president of the American Association of School Administrators (2015-16) and superintendent of High School District 214, the largest high school district in Illinois. He was the 2017-2018 National Superintendent of the Year.
Dave earned his bachelor’s degree from Carroll University and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He began his career as a social studies teacher, athletic coach and director of athletics before becoming a high school principal. He has served as a superintendent for the past 21 years in three different districts.
His interest in educational innovation has deep roots. In 2015 he was recognized as one of the Top 30 Technologists, Transformers & Trailblazers by the Center for Digital Education.
Dr. Schuler became involved with RespondAbility during its formative stages and provides on-the-ground guidance for our transformative mission.
Scott Neil
RespondAbility Coach
Dr. Scott Neil is a nationally recognized expert in the area of school turnaround, with a focus on Data-Driven Instruction and the development of positive school cultures that foster student and teacher efficacy. With a PhD in Educational Leadership and 14 years of school and district leadership experience in urban education, Scott has led the turnaround of five different urban schools in Florida over his 30-year career in education.
He has also worked with over 150 schools and districts across
ten states in both rural and urban settings. Dr. Neil worked
as a national subject matter expert, training organizational facilitators, and principal coaches with the national nonprofit organization New Leaders, whose mission is to prepare educators to become transformational school principals across eleven cities within the United States.
Bringing a unique combination of deep experience as both
a practitioner and researcher in the field of school leadership within high poverty school settings, Scott has trained and mentored over 450 principals and 500 emerging school leaders over the course of his career.
Danica Lewis
RespondAbility Coach
Danica Lewis has over 20 years of experience in schools, serving as an elementary teacher, an instructional coach, and later as a school and district administrator, including school building leadership, early childhood leadership, special education leadership, and curriculum & assessment leadership in urban and suburban schools. Danica led the implementation of standards-aligned instruction, assessment, and grading as both a district-level and building-level administrator. She launched and led instructional coaching in a mid-sized urban district in order to improve student learning outcomes. Danica facilitates powerful professional learning around literacy, standards-aligned instruction and assessment, rigorous teaching, instructional coaching, and leadership. In 2017, the Wisconsin Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development recognized Danica as the “Instructional Leader of the Year” for the State of Wisconsin.