Board of Directors

Get to know the people who help support the Kindezi Schools

Board Members

The Kindezi Schools
sarah

Sarah Cash

Chair

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rebecca

Rebecca Cagle

Vice Chair

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carlton

Carlton Austin

Treasurer 

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Oneika Cassanova

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sally

Sally Westmoreland

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eric

Eric Nelson

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Untitled design (5)

Elizabeth Duncan-Watt

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Rob Wardlow

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Justin Gilstrap

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Untitled design (3)

Charmaine Barnhill

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Damon Bailey Headshot

Damon Bailey

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Board Meeting

Schedule

The Kindezi Schools

*Notice*

PUBLIC HEARING NOTIFICATION:
The Kindezi Schools will be holding its first FY2025 Amended Operating Budget public hearing on Friday, April 11, 2025 at 8:30am. The public may view this session via Zoom by clicking here. The second public hearing for the FY2025 Amended Operating Budget will be held at Kindezi West Elementary School located at 286 Wilson Mill Rd SW, Atlanta, GA 30331 in the Media Center on Friday, May 16, 2025 at 8:30am. The public may view this session via Zoom by clicking here.
 
PUBLIC HEARING NOTIFICATION:
The Kindezi Schools will be holding its first FY2026 Operating Budget public hearing on Friday, April 11, 2025 at 9:00am. The public may view this session via Zoom by clicking here. The second public hearing for the FY2026 Operating Budget will be held at Kindezi West Elementary School located at 286 Wilson Mill Rd SW, Atlanta, GA 30331 in the Media Center on Friday, May 16, 2025 at 9:00am. The public may view this session via Zoom by clicking here.  
July 25, 2024, 6-730pm Virtual Email sechols@kindezi.org for details
*October 11, 2024 830-10am Virtual Email sechols@kindezi.org for details
November 21, 2024 6-730pm Virtual Email sechols@kindezi.org for details
January 31, 2025 830-10am Virtual Email sechols@kindezi.org for details
March 27, 2025 6-730pm Virtual or in person at Kindezi at Gideons 897 Welch St SW, Atlanta, GA 30310
May 16, 2025 830-10am Virtual or in person at Kindezi West 286 Wilson Mill Rd SW, Atlanta, GA 30331

Committee Meeting

Schedule

The Kindezi Schools

Please email sechols@kindezi.org for virtual meeting links

Governance Committee

The Governance Committee meetings occur on the fourth Thursday of the month at 9am.

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee meetings occur on the second Monday of every month at 8:15 am.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee meetings occur on the second Friday of the month at 8:30 am.

Academic Committee

The Academic Committee meetings occur on the fourth Friday of the month at 8:45 am.

Board Meeting

Participation Policy

The Kindezi Schools

All Board meetings are open to the public.

Time is set aside at each regularly scheduled meeting to provide stakeholders the opportunity to address the Board. The public comment period is designed to gain input from the public and not for immediate responses by the Board to the public comments presented.

Individuals who wish to address the governing board at a Board meeting will be required to sign up in advance of the meeting by emailing the Executive Director (kgunn@kindezi.org) and the Board Chair (boardchair@kindezi.org) at least 24 hours in advance.

  • Speakers should be courteous and professional. The presiding Board officer may terminate public comments that are profane, vulgar, or defamatory.

  • Speakers will be heard in the order in which they emailed in their request to speak.

  • Speakers have three minutes each and must stop speaking promptly when signaled.

  • The board reserves the right to cap the public comment period to the first seven individuals who sign up.

  • Speakers may not address confidential student or personnel matters, but may submit such concerns to the Board in writing.

  • Board members will not respond to the comments during the meeting. If follow-up is necessary, the appropriate staff or a representative of the Board will follow-up in a timely manner via email, letter, or telephone.

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Board Documents

Board meeting agendas, minutes, budget, charter, and other important policy documents are kept in public Dropbox folders. You do not need a Dropbox account to view the folders or contents — simply press the “X” when it prompts you to login with an account.

Kindezi Board Documents

Sarah Cash

Ms. Cash is the Land Acquisition Manager at Georgia Power Company. Immediately prior to her current role, she served as the Assistant Corporate Secretary at Southern Company. She also practiced law for more than a decade at Arnall Golden Gregory LLP and in Georgia Power’s legal department.

Ms. Cash is a former board member of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation and the Development Authority of Fulton County. She received her bachelor’s degree from Duke University and her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. She lives in Southwest Atlanta with her husband and their four children, all of whom are Kindezi geniuses.

Rebecca Cagle

Ms. Cagle brings decades of experience as a trusted advisor to nonprofit executives and as an executive herself. She helped found Promise54, an advisory firm that supports social impact organizations with a range of culture and talent-focused supports. While there, she co-led the talent strategy practice. Before helping found Promise54, Ms. Cagle worked as an Associate Partner on the Talent Advising Team at Bellwether Education Partners. From 2007-2015, she worked on Teach For America’s national recruitment team in a variety of roles, leading the organization’s teacher recruitment in the South along with several national strategic initiatives. Earlier in her career, Ms. Cagle worked as a middle school teacher in rural North Carolina. She holds a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Yale University and lives in Atlanta with her husband and three children.

Carlton Austin

Mr. Austin began his career in Audit at Deloitte & Touche, but has since spent more than twenty years in various roles for Coca-Cola. He now serves as the Sr. Director of Convenience Retail Strategy & Commercialization to develop and communicate the commercial strategy for the Convenience Retail channel to be executed by Coca-Cola’s salesforce with customers. Mr. Austin received his undergraduate degree from Rhodes College in Accounting and Finance.

Oneika Cassanova

Oneika Cassanova is the Group Finance Manager at Microsoft. Before joining Microsoft, she was a Vice President at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management, rounding out a 12-year career in the Financial Services industry with roles at major institutions like U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.

 Born and raised in Jamaica, Oneika is deeply committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is actively involved in various initiatives aimed at promoting these values and her dedication to these causes reaches out into the community where she volunteers to uplift the youth in disadvantaged situations through educational and mentorship opportunities. Oneika holds a  Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and International Relations from Randolph – Macon College and a Master’s Degree in Finance from Nova Southeastern University. Away from work, she loves spending quality time with her family, traveling, and exploring the charms of Georgia, her new home state.

 

Sally Westmoreland

Ms. Westmoreland is winding down a 33 year career in residential real estate sales. She has also taught private piano and guitar lessons for over three decades. Prior to her career in real estate, Ms. Westmoreland worked as a Music Therapist at Charter Peachford Hospital from 1978-1987.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in piano performance and music education from Trinity University and her master’s degree in music education and music therapy from the University of Georgia. Having served on several Atlanta area music and education boards, she is also currently serving on the Board of the Georgian Chamber Players. She and her husband Mel have resided in the same house in Morningside for 38 years.

Eric Nelson

Eric Nelson is a RGM Director at The-Coca-Cola Company, where he serves as a strategic business partner to two Franchise Bottlers within the Coca-Cola system primarily focused on business planning, delivering the Plan (in-year), and stewarding strategies that will help secure the future.  He has been in this role since 2023.

Prior to joining Coke, he worked at Kimberly-Clark where he served as a FP&A Strategy Manager, Interim Category/Sales Finance lead and RGM lead for their Industrial Safety Sub-Business Unit.  Prior to joining Kimberly-Clark, Eric spent nearly 10 years with The Coca-Cola Company, in various roles including FP&A, Customer Finance, Supply Chain Finance and Audit.  Mr. Nelson started his career at Ernst & Young in the Atlanta office, working in the audit practice from 2008-2011.  Mr. Nelson received his bachelor's degree from Morehouse College, with a degree in business administration, concentrating in accounting.  He also received a Masters in Accounting from Wake Forest University.

Eric lives in South Fulton with his beautiful wife and two children, the oldest of which is a Kindezi genius!

Elizabeth Duncan-Watt

Ms. Duncan-Watt splits her professional time between urban agriculture, as a farmer on small-scale sustainable vegetable farms in Atlanta, and social impact consulting, as a Director at APCO Worldwide. Elizabeth is a member of APCO's social impact and sustainability practice, advising organizations on growing and communicating their efforts to build a more equitable and sustainable future. She started her career supporting the creation of a foundation focused on bringing social-emotional learning to youth in rural Egypt. Ms. Duncan-Watt received her undergraduate degree from Michigan State University in Arabic & Arabic Studies and her graduate degree from New York University in Global Affairs and Human Rights. She lives in Southwest Atlanta and is the proud parent of two Kindezi at Gideons geniuses. 
 

Robert Wardlow

Mr. Wardlow currently serves as the Chief Audit Executive at White Cap with over 20 years leading and directing audit functions. Reporting directly to the C-Suite and Board of Directors, Mr. Wardlow has led multiple projects covering financial and operational audits, Sarbanes-Oxley internal control assessments, process improvement, acquisition and divestiture due-diligence, fraud investigations and financial systems implementations.

Mr. Wardlow received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Iowa State University in Accounting. He is a certified internal auditor (CIA) and certified fraud examiner (CFE) and an alumni of United Way’s Volunteer Involvement Program (VIP).

Justin Gilstrap

Mr. Gilstrap currently serves as Head of North America Strategy at Kimberly-Clark Professional™. He is responsible for leading the strategic planning process, delivering market intelligence and competitive insights, and driving strategic projects and business operations. 

Prior to Kimberly-Clark, Justin spent five years at Newell Brands where he led strategy and analytics for a global business unit. Additionally, Mr. Gilstrap worked as a management consultant at Accenture where he partnered with several Fortune 100 CPG clients. He began his career as a high school Geometry teacher with Teach For America. 

Mr. Gilstrap graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.  He lives in Atlanta with his wife and son.

 

Charmaine Barnhill

Mrs. Barnhill is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of comprehensive experience in the fields of Accounting, Consulting, and Taxation. Her career journey has been marked by diverse roles and responsibilities, showcasing her expertise and dedication to the financial domain. Currently positioned as the Director of Job Tax Credits at TaxCredible, Mrs. Barnhill plays a pivotal role in shaping the company's stance on technical tax credit and incentive matters. Her responsibilities encompass not only developing but also effectively communicating TaxCredible's position on these intricate tax issues.

Mrs. Barnhill's educational background is equally impressive, underscoring her commitment to excellence in her field. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, providing her with a solid foundation in financial principles and practices. Additionally, she has pursued higher education, earning both a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Master of Science in Taxation. These advanced degrees have equipped her with a deep understanding of business management and taxation strategies, enhancing her ability to navigate complex financial landscapes effectively.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Mrs. Barnhill leads a fulfilling personal life in Atlanta, Georgia, where she resides with her husband and two children. This balance between her career and family underscores her commitment to success in both spheres of life, embodying resilience, determination, and a passion for continuous growth and development. Mrs. Barnhill's extensive experience, coupled with her educational background and personal values, makes her a respected figure in the financial community, poised to continue making significant contributions to her field for years to come.

 

Damon Bailey

Damon A. Bailey is a seasoned nonprofit executive with over 15 years of experience coaching new teachers, school leaders, and nonprofit executives working to deliver
holistic, place-based transformation strategies in low-income communities across America. Damon began his career as a middle-grade science teacher in Atlanta, GA, with Teach For America. He worked four years with the Metro Atlanta team, overseeing new teacher support and development and managing the strategy to increase middle and high school humanities and STEM academic performance for nearly 200 teachers across Metro Atlanta. Most recently, he served as the executive director of Teach For America Alabama, a nonprofit that finds, develops, and supports leaders to drive transformational impact in schools and communities across Alabama.

Damon is currently Vice President, Network Member Success with Purpose Built Communities, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to implementing a proven model for resident-centric, holistic neighborhood revitalization. There, he works with a portfolio of CEOs and Executive Directors, their staff, and the board to develop and deliver localized strategies for improving families outcomes across four pillars: mixed-income housing, cradle-to-college education, economic vitality, and community health and wellness. Damon graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Hampton University and resides in
Atlanta, GA.