Dr. Noemi Donoso has transformed educational outcomes for hundreds of thousands of students across five states through three decades of visionary leadership and systemic reform. As the current CEO of New Schools for Baton Rouge, she continues her relentless pursuit of educational equity and excellence for every child, regardless of background.

Dr. Donoso's career spans the full spectrum of educational leadership—from classroom teacher and public charter school principal to executive roles that have reshaped entire systems. As Chief Education Officer for Chicago Public Schools and Chief of Innovation and Reform for Denver Public Schools, she helped drive improvements in student achievement and operational excellence. Her leadership as Executive Vice President at The Wonderful Company catalyzed major educational and philanthropic initiatives throughout California's Central Valley focused on improving outcomes in underserved rural communities.

Most recently serving as Chief Strategy Officer for Linked Learning Alliance, Dr. Donoso has consistently demonstrated her ability to pioneer innovative approaches and drive strategic transformation at scale. A Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow, she earned her doctoral degree from the University of Southern California, her master's degree from Rutgers University, and her bachelor's degree from Mount St. Mary's College.

Dr. Maxie brings over 20 years of experience in executive leadership, strategic planning, operational management, and educational administration, most recently serving as Managing Director for Watershed Advisors. She has held several leadership roles with the Louisiana Department of Education, including Deputy Chief of Staff for the Office of Teaching and Learning and Chief of Staff for the Office of Assessments, Accountability, Early Childhood, and Data Systems. Dr. Maxie earned a doctoral degree from Nova Southeastern University, a master’s degree from Northwestern State University, and a bachelor’s degree from Southern University and A&M College.

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Travis Markey serves as the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer at New Schools for Baton Rouge since May 2022. He was previously Chief of Finance at IDEA Public Schools of South Louisiana.

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A Louisiana native, Travis has spent the last five years working in Charter School Finance. Prior to joining NSBR, Travis served as the IPS Controller, the Charter Management Organization of IDEA Public Schools. While there, he provided senior leadership for all financial functions and business operations in Louisiana, Florida, Cincinnati and Arkansas. Travis brings his experience in executing strategies and building operational capacity during critical periods of growth.

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Travis holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting and is an active Certified Public Accountant. Travis and his wife Shirley have two sons, Connor and Graham.

Maggie has two decades of experience leading and working with high-performing charter schools and systems and developing non-profit and school leaders. Before launching a consulting practice, Maggie was on the New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO) executive team. She served as Co-CEO, Chief Innovation Officer, and Chief Schools Officer during her decade with the organization. Maggie oversaw NSNO’s school investment, school support, human capital investments, internal operations, and organizational culture. At NSNO, Maggie helped launch over 30 schools, doubled the size of NSNO’s talent investment portfolio, and created academic programming offered to 66% of the city’s schools. She was recognized for her work in launching the first charter HBCU teacher residency program with an Innovation Award from the Alliance for Diversity & Excellence, which she shared with Xavier University.

Before working in New Orleans, Maggie founded and led KIPP STAR College Prep Charter School in Harlem, New York City. Under her leadership, KIPP STAR became the highest-performing public middle school in New York’s District 5. At KIPP STAR, she developed a deep bench of aspiring school leaders, including many who would go on to found and lead high-performing schools. Maggie was elected by her peers in KIPP’s national school network to serve as a member of the KIPP Foundation’s School Leader Advisory Board, selected to launch programming to improve writing within KIPP’s network, and was recognized by the Robin Hood Foundation with its Hero’s Award in 2004.

Maggie is a member of the 11th cohort of the Pahara-Aspen Fellowship in Education and a former Teach For America corps member (Mississippi Delta ’97). She has also been a faculty member of the KIPP School Leadership Program and Relay Graduate School of Education’s National Principals Academy Fellowship. Maggie earned a BA in International Affairs from George Washington University and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. She lives in New Orleans with her family.

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Jasmine is a proud New Orleanian happy to be back in Louisiana. Prior to joining New Schools for Baton Rouge, Jasmine taught elementary and middle school in Orlando, Florida. Jasmine’s experience includes working in professional development for educators and families with a focus on Universal Design for Learning, Assistive Technology, and Dyslexia. 

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When Jasmine isn’t working she enjoys shopping, spending time with her Chow Chow, Saint, and traveling.

A dedicated educator, Christina has devoted her career to serving her local community. She began as a teacher and instructional coach with East Baton Rouge Schools before advancing to principal of a charter school. Under her leadership, the school underwent a remarkable transformation, improving from an F to a B rating in student achievement.

Christina is a proud graduate of Southern University, where she earned dual bachelor's degrees in Child Development and Elementary Education. She later earned her master's in Educational Leadership from Grand Canyon University.

Christina lives with her husband, Donald, and their four children. When she is not focused on education, she enjoys family time, travel, and teaching at her church.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Simmons Covington is NSBR’s inaugural Chief Growth Officer, charged with overseeing NSBR’s strategy to scale our impact and expand our reach across Baton Rouge. Simmons has spent her career in public education, focusing on leadership and charter school quality as an executive coach, consultant, entrepreneur, and proven nonprofit leader. Currently, she leads her consulting practice that aims to empower education leaders to scale their impact.

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Prior to her coaching and consulting roles, she co-founded and served as the Chief Executive Officer of Education Board Partners (EBP) (now Bellwether), a company dedicated to improving charter school board governance to grow and sustain quality schools. In less than five years, EBP grew from an idea to an award-winning national organization that offers governance coaching, consulting, and a resource library to support improved boards across the country.

During this time, she also served as the founding board chair of Education Forward DC, Washington, DC’s education champion, where she oversaw the organization’s investments to increase the scale of DC's charter sector to nearly 50% of the student share and improve the quality of all DC schools.

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Before EBP, Simmons led communications for Education Resource Strategies, evaluated program implementation at EL Education, and shaped policy and professional development for the Boston Plan for Excellence and New American Schools. But her favorite position, hands down, was teaching first grade at Benjamin Banneker Public Charter School in Cambridge, MA.

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Simmons holds a Master's in School Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Davidson College. She is an International Coaching Federation-certified coach and completed coaching training at the Teleos Leadership Institute. She currently serves as the board chair at Ensemble Learning, an advisory board member at LIFT-DC, and previously served as the board chair at Capital City Public Charter School in Washington, DC. Simmons serves as a mentor for the Tiger Woods Foundation and is a Pahara-Asen Education Fellow.

For more than two decades, Kizzy A. Payton has used the power of communications to inform, inspire, and influence change across Louisiana. A passionate advocate for access, equity, and public trust, she has led communications in higher education, state government, and public sector institutions, always with a focus on impact, authenticity, and community.
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Most recently, Kizzy served as Chief Marketing and Public Relations Officer at Baton Rouge Community College (BRCC), where she led strategic communications, marketing, and branding efforts across eight campuses serving more than 11,000 students. In this role, she directed award- winning campaigns, crisis response strategies, and partnerships that strengthened BRCC’s visibility, enrollment, and community engagement. Her leadership helped elevate the institution’s profile locally and statewide while building meaningful connections with students, families, elected officials, and industry partners.
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Prior to BRCC, she served as Press Secretary for the Louisiana Department of Revenue, where she managed statewide media relations and legislative communications, and held leadership positions with the Louisiana Community and Technical College System and BREC.
Kizzy holds a Master of Arts in Mass Communications from Southern University and A&M College and is a graduate of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s Leadership Baton Rouge program.
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Deeply committed to the Baton Rouge community, she serves as Vice Chair of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport Commission and holds board appointments with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Baton Rouge, WRKF 89.3 Public Radio, and the Advisory Board for Ochsner Discovery Health Sciences Academy. She is also a proud member of the La Capitale (LA) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, where she works alongside other women leaders to uplift communities through service.

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Leslie Spencer is the Executive Support Manager at New Schools for Baton Rouge. She joined NSBR from a local charter school, where she was the senior regional Project Manager. 

A native of Baton Rouge, Leslie earned her bachelor's degree in physics with a minor in mathematics from Southern University and A&M College. She has 14 years of education experience as a STEM educator and administrator. Leslie is married and has two children.

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