Dr. Robert Thornell has made it his career passion to help make educational leaders better. He believes strongly that a quality campus administrator is the key to a successful school and continually seeks ways to use his skills, experience, and knowledge to help shape the future of school leaders. His dissertation, from Baylor University, centered on the mentorship of campus administrators and he has continued that pursuit throughout his career.Dr. Thornell currently works with NWEA as a School Improvement Coach. Other interests include his collaboration with non-profit SchoolRubric, serving as the Director of Organizational and School Leadership, to assist in helping educators around the world. He is also currently working as an adjunct professor at the University of North Texas in their educational leadership doctoral program. Robert previously served in Lewisville ISD developing school leaders and was Deputy Superintendent in Northwest ISD, near Fort Worth, TX. He oversaw the curriculum and instruction, technology, and facilities & planning, athletics, and fine arts departments. Prior to that role, Dr. Thornell was Assistant Superintendent for curriculum and instruction with a focus on instructional goals and professional learning communities with an emphasis on principal leadership. Robert also has served as the Executive Director of Curriculum and Staff Development where his responsibilities included oversight of curriculum development, implementation, and professional learning. Dr. Thornell’s campus experience includes serving as the Principal of Chisholm Trail Middle School. Under his leadership, the school was named a “National School to Watch” by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). He also has served as a Principal of Timberline Elementary school, which is a PreK-5 bilingual campus. Dr. Thornell is actively involved in professional learning organizations and is a member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), Learning Forward, Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), and Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association (TEPSA). He has served on the Board of Directors of Texas ASCD. He is a certified trainer for the National Institute of School Leadership (NISL), a program designed for transformational school leaders, and is a graduate of the Texas ASCD Curriculum Leadership Academy. A true educator at heart, he has presented at the state and national level on topics ranging from professional development to education transformation.