West Wind Education Policy Inc. has a multiracial, multiethnic, and multilingual team encompassing a variety of backgrounds and decades of experience working with leaders from across K-12 education.
Staff
Circe Stumbo
President
circe @ westwinded .com
Circe is president of West Wind Education Policy Inc. (West Wind), which she founded in January 2001. Circe facilitates national and statewide blue-ribbon panels and summits, cross-functional working teams, strategic planning processes, and leadership teams. Read more about Circe here.
Mandi Bozarth
Project Director
mandi @ westwinded .com
Mandi Bozarth is a Project Director at West Wind, where she supports our team with budgeting, strategy, program design, and client support. She works with districts and state departments of education in their efforts to create learning opportunities for each and every student. Her work includes project management, group facilitation, research for state initiatives, and writing briefing papers, policy memos and planning documents for use by leaders in education. Read more about Mandi here
Ana Clymer
Program Manager
ana @ westwinded .com
Ana Clymer joined West Wind’s team in November 2023 as a Program Manager. Ana previously served as the Cultural Equity Statewide Coordinator with Iowa State University’s Child Welfare Research & Training Project in contract with the Iowa Department of Health & Human Services. She has worked for the non-profit sector in Iowa with children, families, and social service organizations since 1999. Read more about Ana here.
Ellen Daye-Williams
Senior Leadership Facilitator
ellen @ westwinded .com
Ellen is a Senior Leadership Facilitator at West Wind, where she supports administrators and HR officers and nonprofit leaders across the state through implicit bias and equity professional development. Ellen also served as a designer of and trainer in a program to help prepare members of marginalized communities to serve on public boards and commissions. Read more about Ellen here.
Fellows
Mary Antón
Equity Fellow
Mary Antón provides leadership coaching for senior and emerging leaders with a focus on leaders of color. Mary provides professional learning opportunities to schools and districts tailored to schools’ needs. Currently, Mary is on the Board of Directors of People of Color in Independent Schools of Northern California. Read more about Mary here.
Kristine S. Grant
Research Fellow
Kristine is Associate Clinical Professor of Multicultural and Urban Education at Drexel University. Before joining the Drexel faculty, Kristine was a Research Associate with Research for Action, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit engaged in educational research and evaluation. Read more about Kristine here.
DeeAnn Grove
Policy Fellow
Contact DeeAnn directly via email.
deeann @ westwinded .com
DeeAnn Grove is a Policy Fellow at West Wind, serving also as an Instructional and Leadership Coach. An experienced teacher educator, DeeAnn serves as a lecturer at the University of Iowa. DeeAnn’s research focuses on the social and political foundations of education policy and practice. Read more about DeeAnn here
Deanna Hill
Research Fellow
Deanna is Assistant Clinical Professor and Program Director in the School of Education’s Education Leadership and Management Program and Higher Education Program at Drexel University. Her research interests include education law and policy, intersectionality, educator workforce issues, and school choice. Read more about Deanna here.
Lead Subcontractors
In addition to our Fellows, West Wind works closely with subcontractors from across the nation who are poised to support our work on a short- or long-term basis. Our nimble responses to clients are possible partly because we have such highly qualified consultants on call. Here are a few of our lead subcontractors.
Adrienne Bailey
Senior Consultant, School Board Leadership and Governance
Adrienne is currently a senior consultant providing strategic coaching and equity solutions to urban school district leaders and boards of education. Adrienne brings with her over 25 years of experience working in the fields of education and social justice to support disenfranchised youth living in urban and rural communities throughout the world. Read more about Adrienne here.
Sam Black
Senior Consultant and Leadership Facilitator
Sam Black serves West Wind as a Senior Consultant and Facilitator, focused on supporting leaders to design and implement learning environments with cultures of belonging and inclusion. Sam has created strategies and solutions to aid education, human service, and justice system agencies throughout his long and successful career. Before joining the team at West Wind, Sam worked in Iowa’s Community Based Corrections system (adult probation and parole) before retiring in 2020. Read more about Sam here.
Jin Chang
Consultant, Research
Jin is a Ph.D candidate in the history of education at the University of Iowa. Their research focuses on the history of Asian American students and the history of student activism. Jin has experience creating oral history projects for libraries and supporting qualitative research efforts at nonprofits.
Christopher Johnson
Consultant, Equity Research and Coaching
Chris is an Associate Professor of Education and African American Studies at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he teaches Introduction to Educational Psychology, Sport and Black Culture, Introduction to African American Studies, Interracial Communication and Tupac Shakur and the Hip Hop Revolution. Chris also serves as part of West Wind’s think tank team. His research focuses on racial identity, representation and interracial interactions.
Kimathi Johnson
Consultant, Student Voice
Kimathi Johnson supports West Wind to engage student voice in our projects. He worked with West Wind from 2021-22, after which he served as an Advancement Associate with the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. Kimathi’s unique collegiate experience as a leader in athletics, movement organizer, and an office assistant position him to approach his work with care, commitment, and gusto. Read more about Kimathi here.
Angelina Ramirez
Consultant, Student Voice
Angel Ramirez is a Peace Facilitator for Kids First Law Center in Cedar Rapids and the Co-Founder of Our Future, an organization to empower young people doing social justice work socially, professionally, and financially. Having been a first-generation college student, Angel’s desire to empower underrepresented members of the community is evident through her leadership and involvement in organizations throughout the community. In recognition, Angel was recently named as a Newman Civic Fellow. She also was recognized as a “Woman of Achievement in the Community” by the broader Cedar Rapids, Iowa, community. Read more about Angel here.
Beverly Smith
Senior Leadership Consultant
Dr. Beverly A. Smith has held numerous leadership and teaching positions in Iowa and works with educators across the country. Prior to her retirement from K-12 education in 2019, Dr. Smith was Associate Superintendent for Human Resources and Equity for the Waterloo Community School District. Just as soon as she retired, she stepped out of retirement to serve as interim principal for Lincoln Elementary in Waterloo from 2019-2020. Since then, she has continued to consult with West Wind and other agencies across the country. Read more about Beverly here.