CATDC Announces Rebecca Russell as incoming Executive Director
October 16, 2026
Dear CATDC Community Members,
With great delight, we share that Rebecca Russell has been appointed as the next Executive Director of the California Teacher Development Collaborative. She will begin on July 1, 2027. Her appointment follows the unanimous recommendation of the Executive Director Search Committee and the unanimous vote of the Board of Directors.
Rebecca distinguished herself in a strong field of educational leaders through her deep alignment with CATDC’s mission, her expertise in adult learning, and her genuine gift for building community. She knows CATDC from the inside, and she is ready to carry its relational, high-quality work forward.
From the start, we sought a leader who could sustain what makes CATDC distinctive while guiding it into a demanding future. We knew we needed a leader who could deepen our service to educators across California, strengthen financial sustainability, expand partnerships and reach, and help schools navigate questions like the role of AI in teaching and learning. Rebecca rose to the top because she lives this work every day. She is a trusted facilitator and coach, a connector of educators, and a leader who believes in this mission the way so many in our community do.
About Rebecca
Rebecca currently serves as Director of Teaching and Learning at Westside Neighborhood School in Los Angeles, where she chairs the academic leadership team and helped shape strategy around the recent major campus expansion. For the past twenty years she has worked in Southern California schools as a teacher, curriculum leader, and coach. She has built curriculum maps and professional growth frameworks, led accreditation self-studies, and shaped programs ranging from a new K-5 mathematics sequence to a cross-divisional Portrait of a Graduate initiative. At Saint Mark’s School in Altadena, where she served as Director of Teaching, Learning and Belonging, she guided the school’s programmatic recovery after the Eaton Fire, centering the care of students and faculty while keeping their learning whole.
Many across our community know Rebecca as a CATDC instructional and leadership coach and workshop facilitator, a role she has held since 2021. She also co-facilitates a leadership circle for women educators in independent schools. Rebecca came to education after an earlier career in Broadway advertising in New York, and she remains an active vocal performer. That background shapes her instincts for communication, audience, and bringing people together. Her work is grounded in a deep belief in teachers and in the communities that form around their learning.
Gratitude and Transition
We are grateful to our committee members Sara Poplack, Baudelia Taylor, and Jaime Dominguez for their time, care, and judgment throughout this process. We also thank Karen Whitaker, Senior Consultant at Carney Sandoe, for her steady partnership and guidance since March. And we thank every member of our community and staff who shaped this search, through survey responses, conversations, and time with our candidates.
Most of all, we extend our profound gratitude to Lisa Haney. For nearly a decade, Lisa has led CATDC with vision, courage, and an unwavering commitment to equity, and her legacy will be felt for years to come. We are fortunate that Lisa will continue to lead through June 30, 2027, ensuring a thoughtful transition and a strong year ahead. In the months to come we will have many opportunities to celebrate Lisa’s extraordinary service and to welcome Rebecca to the community.
Thank you for your engagement and support during this meaningful moment in CATDC’s history.
With gratitude,
Mariama Richards and Joel Sohn
Co-Chairs Search Committee
October 16, 2026
Dear CATDC Community,
I am deeply humbled and beyond thrilled to serve as the next Executive Director of the California Teacher Development Collaborative. Continuing the visionary work of Lisa Haney and Janet McGarvey is a true honor, and I could not be more excited for the collaborative partnerships and possibilities ahead.
The impact of CATDC is grounded in relationships and connections, which have been the hallmark of my work for the past two decades. Lifting up the voices of educators, creating spaces of reflection and innovation, and finding my own leadership pathway all happened with inspiration from CATDC. It has also been a privilege to serve as a CATDC coach and workshop facilitator, providing spaces for others while carrying a heartfelt appreciation for the transformational opportunities that enriched my own journey. It is this deep affection and passion for CATDC’s mission and vision that will guide my work in this position.
What inspires me most is the opportunity to build relationships with this wide community of educators and educational leaders, supporting the work that you are doing in your schools, the ways that you are innovating in these complex times, and the responsibility that we collectively hold in shaping the evolving educational landscape. I am eager to learn from and with you, and to listen for the ways that CATDC can continue to provide outstanding programming that meets the needs of today and the future.
I am grateful to Joel Sohn and Mariama Richards, the search committee, the Board of Directors, and the CATDC staff for entrusting me with this leadership, and I promise to bring energy, dedication, and a fully open heart to this organization that sustains and inspires so many. Together, we will continue to build empowering spaces for educators in service to the students in our collective care.
Starting this summer, my priorities will include spending time connecting with member schools, engaging with your communities, and meeting educators in their classrooms, workspaces, or during CATDC programs. I welcome invitations for school visits and hope you will reach out! In the meantime, I look forward to partnering with the Board and working closely with Lisa and the CATDC team on a smooth transition, and I hope to see many of you at upcoming programs and events as we prepare for this next chapter together.
In partnership and gratitude,
Rebecca Russell
CATDC Incoming Executive Director
Transition Timeline
March 20, 2026 - Board Chair and Lisa Haney Share Leadership Transition News
March 23, 2026 - Community survey went out
April 13, 2026 - Position description published
July 15, 2026 - Preferred application deadline
August 2026 - Semifinalist interviews
September 2026 - Finalist interviews
October 2026 - Board selection & announcement
July 1, 2027 - New ED begins
Communications
March 20, 2026
Dear CATDC Community Members,
I’m writing in my capacity as CATDC Board Chair to share an important update with our community. Executive Director Lisa Haney has informed the CATDC Board and staff of her decision to step down from her position effective June 30, 2027.
For the past nine years, Lisa has served as CATDC’s visionary leader. As CATDC celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, I had the privilege of hearing countless stories that captured the profound impact Lisa has had on our organization and the educators we serve. Anyone who has worked with Lisa will recognize the same qualities: she is mission-driven, intellectually curious, creative, collaborative, and unwavering in her commitment to equity. Lisa approaches challenges with courage and clarity, and she consistently elevates the voices and work of others.
Currently pursuing a PhD in Community Psychology, Lisa embodies a lifelong dedication to learning and to strengthening the communities around her. Under her leadership, CATDC has flourished. She has guided the organization through the development of a strategic plan, led a thoughtful business model assessment, and expanded CATDC’s reach. Most importantly, Lisa’s leadership has helped ensure that thousands of educators have experienced the transformative professional learning opportunities that define CATDC’s mission. Her legacy will be felt for many years to come.
While we will certainly feel Lisa’s departure, we are grateful that she has given CATDC a long runway to conduct a thoughtful and thorough search for her successor. CATDC trustees Mariama Richards (Head of School at Crossroads School in Santa Monica) and Joel Sohn (Assistant Head of School for Planning and Strategic Initiatives at Head-Royce School in Oakland) are chairing the search committee. We are pleased to be partnering with Karen Whitaker, Senior Consultant at Carney Sandoe, in this process.
Lisa will continue to lead CATDC with the same dedication and excellence that have defined her tenure. Over the next 15 months, she and the staff will continue to offer professional development opportunities that are truly second to none. We also look forward to celebrating Lisa and honoring her remarkable leadership and many accomplishments throughout the upcoming school year.
Sincerely,
Phil Gutierrez
CATDC Board Chair
March 20, 2026
Dear CATDC Community,
I believe in the transformative potential of education and the power of community. This organization engages deeply, daily, with both. So it is with gratitude and genuine excitement about what lies ahead for CATDC that I share the news that I will be stepping down from my role at the end of June 2027.
It has been a great joy and tremendous honor to serve as Executive Director of CATDC, providing me with an unparalleled opportunity to grow to the edges of my capacity as a leader, learn all I can about the field of education, and contribute in meaningful ways. What has made this the job of my dreams, however, is you: board members past and present, the CATDC team, facilitators, coaches, and the thousands of teachers and school leaders who devote time to their own learning and growth so that they can better support the young people in their care. Relationships have always been at the heart of what we do, and I have been very fortunate to work at the center of the myriad connections that form this dynamic and diverse community of practice.
I have attended hundreds of our programs over the years and am always moved by the energy in the room, and, since 2020, on the Zoom. Educators arrive often carrying the weight of their work and leave refreshed and enlivened, with new knowledge, skills, and awareness. I have cherished the privilege to learn with and from you, and hear your stories about the impact of CATDC programs—changing practice, creating new relationships, reconnecting you to your deeper purpose, and even catalyzing careers. Impact that ripples out across classrooms and schools.
Together, we have built upon the strong foundation created by Janet McGarvey, our founding director. Membership has grown by 40% across the state and educators come to our programs from across the country. We emerged from the pandemic a stronger organization, with hybrid and online offerings that expanded access in ways we hadn't imagined, and launched a coaching and consulting arm. We have deepened school partnerships, completed our first five-year strategic plan, and are now implementing new strategic practices that spark thoughtful innovation and agile iteration in the face of rapid change and ongoing uncertainty.
What I am most proud of, however, is bringing equity to the center of our mission and our practice, serving as both a resource and a model for schools engaged in the hard, necessary work of dismantling systems that prevent full participation. As bell hooks wrote: “we are teaching and learning in the direction of justice, peace, and love" co-creating the world we hope to see.
This is the right time for an intentional leadership transition, and I am grateful that the board has moved quickly and wisely, forming a search committee led by Mariama Richards and Joel Sohn and partnering with Karen Whitaker at Carney Sandoe. CATDC is in extraordinarily good hands. I want to express my deep gratitude to outgoing board chair, Phil Gutierrez, for his steadfast support and extraordinary leadership.
My own next chapter is still taking shape, though I am certain that it will involve more learning. I look forward to completing my doctoral research on how intentional communities sustain themselves through rapid change and times of crisis, questions that have informed my work at CATDC, as well as giving back to the field of education in new ways.
In the meantime, I will lead CATDC with the same energy and commitment that have defined my work from the beginning. I hope you will stay close: be in touch about program ideas, attend workshops, bring your colleagues into the community, invite new schools to become members, and if you are able, contribute to the Janet McGarvey Fund, which provides greater access to vital learning and growth.
With gratitude and affection,
Lisa Haney
CATDC Executive Director