Awais Sufi
President and Chief Executive Officer
Awais Sufi serves as Chief Executive Officer of SchoolSmartKC, having spent one year in the design of this effort as Entrepreneur in Residence at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Prior to his work in Kansas City, Awais served as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Programs at the International Youth Foundation (IYF). At IYF, Awais led the organization’s development efforts for public-private partnerships between development agencies, the private sector and philanthropy to promote greater opportunity for disadvantaged youth in over 50 countries worldwide.
Before his tenure at IYF, Awais served as the startup Managing Director of the Education for Employment Foundation, which uses business validated training and education to provide economic opportunity to young people across the Middle East. Prior to this work, he served as a corporate and securities attorney at Arnold & Porter, a Washington, D.C. law firm, and as Law Clerk to the Honorable Judge John Sprizzo of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Raised in Topeka, Kansas, Awais is a graduate of the University Of Texas School Of Law and the University of Chicago.
Chrystal Truss
Manager of Operations
Chrystal Truss is the Manager of Operations at SchoolSmartKC, managing the organization’s operational tasks such as office and space management, information technology, human resources, and finance and expense management. Prior to her employment with SchoolSmartKC, Chrystal was a Scholarship Coordinator for Kauffman Scholars where she maintained partnerships with 76 colleges and managed approximately $3.5 million in scholarship expenses for over 400 college students. Prior to joining Kauffman Scholars, Chrystal worked as a Program Assistant for the Kansas City Freedom School Initiative.
Chrystal is excited to lend her operations experience and talent SchoolSmartKC and continue her career in the education arena.
She is involved in her community through volunteer and financial support of organizations like Communities Creating Opportunities, R.U.B.I.E.S. (Realizing Your Best In Every Situation), and Newhouse Shelter.
Chrystal is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Business Management at Webster University in Kansas City, Missouri.
Jessica Easter
Administrative Coordinator
Jessica Easter is the Administrative Coordinator for SchoolSmartKC, providing critical day-to-day support to the SchoolSmartKC team. Jessica’s work is grounded in her exceptional ability to streamline processes, maximize efficiency and cultivate important relationships within organizations and communities. Jessica has over 10 years of experience of senior-level executive support, identifying organizational requirements, correlating programs and coordinating events. Prior to joining SchoolSmartKC, Jessica provided high-level administrative support to managers and executives in the areas of Human Resources, Finance, Environmental Health, Maternal Child Health and Community Engagement with the City of Kansas City, Missouri.
As a native of Kansas City, Jessica deeply understands the importance of helping Kansas City schools find solutions to closing the achievement gap. She is excited to be a part of an organization that impacts the community she grew up in and enjoys being apart of such a dynamic team.
Jessica holds a B.A. from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Noah Devine
Director of Educational Investments
Noah Devine is the Director of Educational Investments at SchoolSmartKC, where he leads the analytic efforts, strategy, planning, due diligence, support and monitoring efforts for expanding and fortifying quality school options for students in the Kansas City Public School System. Prior to joining SSKC, Noah was an independent consultant with local districts, state agencies, philanthropies and schools to improve the access and quality of educational options for students, including with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Before that, Noah worked for the Louisiana Department of Education as the director of Accountability Policy where he led data, analytics and stakeholder engagement to drive policy and decision-making across teacher, leader, school and district evaluation and accountability systems. Noah Devine holds a B.S. in political science from the Truman State University, an M.S. in political science from the University of Missouri, and an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Angelique Nedved
Director of School Quality
As Director of School Quality at SchoolSmartKC, Angelique Nedved leads in depth reviews of schools for investment and the structuring of investment support to ensure quality schooling for local youth. She also drives SchoolSmartKC’s broader efforts to coordinate leadership, instruction and other supports needed for all schools in our local system to thrive. Angelique brings comprehensive experience in school improvement and organizational change focused on the adoption of modern and engaging learning environments. Her recent work in Lawrence Public Schools has earned her national recognition as one of the country’s Top 30 Technologists, Transformers and Trailblazers in 2016. Prior to joining SchoolSmartKC, Angelique served in the public education sector teaching grades kindergarten through high school, including five years as a building principal. She joined district level administration in Lawrence as Director of Instruction and Curriculum before accepting the position of Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning. Angelique earned her Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Kansas, and holds a Masters in Education Administration and a Bachelors in Secondary and Elementary Education from Fort Hays State University.
Juan M. Rangel, Jr.
Director of Family Engagement
Juan M. Rangel, Jr. is the Family Engagement Director where he works to ensure all families and students are able to access out of school supports critical to student success and build partnerships with educators and their schools to improve academic achievement.
Juan previously worked at Donnelly College in Kansas City, Kansas where he led programs to support disadvantaged high school students in successfully transitioning and persisting through college as the Director of Gateway to College. Prior to Donnelly, Juan was the Director of Community Engagement for Metropolitan Community College/Institute for Workforce Innovation in Kansas City and also spent 12 years at the National Conference for Community and Justice, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry and racism through education, awareness-building and conflict resolution training.
Juan holds bachelor’s of science degrees in international business, marketing, and Spanish from Northwest Missouri State University and has his master’s degree in urban education from Kansas State University.
Samara Crawford Herrera
Director of Community Partnerships
Samara Crawford Herrera is Director of Community Partnerships where she works to convene, connect, leverage and drive key partners and stakeholders to support and demand quality of all schools on behalf of students and families within the Kansas City education community. For the last two years, Samara served as Manager of Community Partnerships, Advocacy and Engagement for the Kansas City Public Schools where she led the overall strategic and operational planning of KCPS family and community outreach efforts. At SchoolSmartKC, Samara will continue to grow a robust, engaged and broad consistency of local stakeholders and position SchoolSmartKC as a constant and unyielding voice for practical, system-wide changes that foster sustained and widespread improvement.
A social worker and early education specialist by training, Samara has her Master of Social Work from the University of Oklahoma, a Master of Education from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts from Spelman College. She is a veteran of the Navy and mother to one spirited teenage daughter. Her husband Tino is a Pastor at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.
Ruth Dickson Eddy
Director of Communications
Ruth Dickson Eddy serves as the Director of Communications at SchoolSmartKC, where she leads all communications initiatives related to the SchoolSmartKC mission. Ruth is a passionate advocate for education in underserved communities, and comes from a family of teachers who have developed educational programs in countries including Iran, Ghana and Uganda, as well as in underserved areas in the United Kingdom.
Prior to joining SchoolSmartKC, Ruth worked for the University of Central Missouri, where she was awarded the Foster / Inglish Award for Outstanding Achievement and Service in Public Relations. During her time at UCM, Ruth spearheaded the ‘Opportunity in Action’ campaign, which received multiple industry awards, as well as other key communications initiatives focused on providing opportunity through education.
Ruth is a native of the United Kingdom, and has a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of East Anglia. She lives in Midtown KC with her husband, James, and their dog, Sammy, and will be welcoming their first child in the autumn of 2020.
Rebecca Williams
Director of Talent Development
Rebecca Williams
Director of Talent Development
Rebecca Williams serves as the Director of Talent Development, where she works to increase the synergy and support expressed needs of all parties connected to educational talent practices in the Kansas City Public School System. As the daughter and granddaughter of educators who made it their life’s work to fight for the equitable access of Black, Brown and underserved students into systems that were not designed to serve them, Rebecca’s mission to create strong pipelines of diverse talent that reflect the students being served is deeply rooted.
Before joining the SchoolSmartKC team, Rebecca served in roles in varying stages of the P-16 continuum. After beginning her career as a middle school English Language Arts teacher in South Memphis, she went on to spend years managing a community development grant and coordinating multicultural recruitment in the external affairs and admissions offices at her alma mater. Most recently, she managed talent for a network of schools in the historically rich, yet underserved Whitehaven and Westwood neighborhoods of Memphis.
Rebecca is a Kansas City native and has a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies with a minor in Africana Studies from Rhodes College. She’s excited to be back in her hometown where she and her six-year-old daughter enjoy spending time with family and exploring the city.
Amanda Lind
Administrative Coordinator
Amanda Lind
Administrative Coordinator
Amanda Lind is the Part-time Administrative Coordinator, concentrating on database management, grant organization and meeting coordination. Prior to joining SchoolSmartKC, Amanda developed her core skills of task management, process efficiency and event coordination through several roles at a local Kansas City software company. In addition, she currently serves on several non-profit committees around town, including as an UMKC Enactus Alumni Coordinator and as a member of the Hillcrest Transitional Housing Gala Committee to name a few.
Amanda has her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and has remained in Kansas City ever since. In 2019, Amanda welcomed her first child, reigniting a passion for education with a desire to be part of positive change in the Kansas City public school system.
