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 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 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.

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.

Adam LeClair is the Director of System Planning and Design where he directs initiatives to build strong partnerships to greater operational and programmatic efficiencies in the Kansas City school system.  Prior to joining SSKC, Adam was Director of Community Education for St. Cloud Area Schools in Minnesota where he was responsible for creating a culturally competent life-long learning environment in support of 99,000 citizens across 250 square miles. Before that, Adam worked for an educational support firm Infinite Campus as a Process Consultant and Software Product Analyst where he was responsible for the analysis, design, and testing of business and student information systems software serving 7.8 million students across 45 states.

Adam’s commitment to educational equity is grounded in the experience of his father as an enrolled member of the Eastern Shoshone tribe on the Wind River Indian Reservation where Adam saw first-hand the importance of strong supports to ensure a quality education for students of all backgrounds.

Adam holds a bachelor’s in finance and a master’s of business administration from the University of Wyoming and is a Doctor of Education in Leadership candidate at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.