Wanda Creel

With more than 30 years of experience in public education, Wanda works with educational leaders and team members to identify key practices and processes that support continuous improvement, unlocking excellence, and ensuring that students are prepared for their future.

Our focused plans and strategies today provide a positive foundation and future for tomorrow’s children.”

About Wanda

Wanda has more than 30 years of experience as an educator, researcher, and administrator at the local, state, and national levels, which she brings to bear as she leads and coaches educational organizations to build leadership capacity, school improvement, and increased student achievement. Her expertise includes community outreach, classroom management, differentiated instruction, curriculum development, and e-learning.

Across her career, Wanda has:

• Earned a $2.7 million grant from an educational state agency to guide the creation of a joint workforce development campus housing a K-12 career academy and technical college facility. This was the first joint campus developed in the state, serving as a model for other communities. The community saw an increase in business attraction and infrastructure and students better prepared for the workforce.
• Led the development and implementation of a Southern state department’s standards for schools, enabling data-driven school improvement and support for all schools in the state.
• Led the development and implementation of a graduation coach program for a Southern state, leading to a more than 20% increase in the state’s graduation rate.

The majority of Wanda’s career has been focused on Georgia, where she retired as superintendent after serving in the role for seven years. Wanda serves as president of Unlocking Excellence, consulting for and coaching educational institutions and businesses. She has held the role of chief academic officer for the Lee County School System. Wanda has served as an associate state school superintendent for school improvement services, a district-level assistant superintendent, a district curriculum director, a principal, a middle school assistant principal, a middle and high school teacher, and an adjunct professor for graduate educational leadership programs.

Wanda earned her doctorate of education from Samford University and her specialist degree in education, administration, and supervision from Lincoln Memorial University. She holds a master’s degree of education, administration, and supervision from the University of West Georgia and a Bachelor of Arts from Columbus State University.

A frequent speaker at industry events, Wanda has presented for RTM East Education Congress, the National School Boards Association Conference, the Southeast Comprehensive Center’s conference, and the Council of Chief State School Officers on Georgia’s Graduation Counts compact.

Wanda received a Lexington Education Leadership Award Fellowship, a national recognition and program that afforded Wanda and her district additional opportunities to conduct a research project on increased technology usage. She was also awarded the Johnnye V. Cox Award for leadership from the University of Georgia College of Education. The United States Army Association of Quartermasters conferred the Distinguished Order of Saint Martin on her for “spirit, dignity, and sense of sacrifice and commitment.” She contributed the chapter “Supervising and Evaluating Principals” to the book Supervision: New Perspectives for Theory and Practice by Jeffrey Glanz and Sally Zepeda.

Wanda is a volunteer for Midwest Food Bank, a mentor for the Fayette Pregnancy Resource Center, and a member of Rotary International.