Deanna uses her nearly three decades of public-school experience, including five years as a superintendent, coaching education organizations on strategic planning, continuous improvement, the development of leadership capacity, and building positive cultures to recruit and retain employees.

Educational work is a mission field, so lead with a servant’s heart. Let your light shine brightly to encourage others to do the same.”

About Deanna

Deanna draws upon nearly 30 years of public-school experience to coach educational organizations to develop and execute strategic planning, build leadership capacity in principals and district administrators, and deepen two-way communication with students, employees, and community partners.

During her career, Deanna has:

• Served as an instructional change agent as an elementary and high school principal by leading both schools from an “apprentice” to a “distinguished” instructional performance rating according to the state’s accountability system.
• As a superintendent, served as an educational consultant to a state resource officers’ board and a safe schools center, helping improve collaboration and school safety.
• Equipped schools with holistic teams to address the many needs of students, with a school resource officer; a full-time nurse; coaches for intervention, inclusivity, and instruction; and a family resource center.
• Established community partnerships with city and county governments, a health department, emergency responders, and other agencies to develop a safety and crisis management response and resource team.
• Provided educational leaders with the tools to improve productivity and effectiveness in changing the culture on school campuses through presentations on pausing, reflecting, and resetting as well as recruiting and re-recruiting.

Prior to Huron Studer Education, Deanna has held the role of a high school business and marketing teacher, a guidance counselor, an elementary and high school principal, and a district administrator, all in Hopkins County Schools in Madisonville, Kentucky. She served as an educational consultant on the Kentucky Association of School Resource Officers board, served on the Commissioner of Education Superintendent Advisory Committee, and acted as a mentor for Kentucky Women in Educational Leadership and Kentucky Association of School Administrators New Superintendent Onboarding Program.

Deanna earned her doctorate of education from Oakland City University. She holds a Master of Art and a Bachelor of Science from Western Kentucky University, where she achieved Rank I status in educational leadership.

Deanna is a member of the American Association of School Administrators, National Association of School Resource Officers, Kentucky Association of School Administrators, Green River Rural Educational Cooperative, and Western Kentucky Educational Cooperative.