Schlechty Center

Annie Wimbish Senior Associate

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For years as a teacher, administrator, and superintendent, I knew what I believed in but did not know how to frame it. I saw that teachers, students, parents, administrators, and I struggled year after year at high levels of frustration as we worked hard with no central direction, never appearing to reach students at the level that they deserved. Then Hurricane Katrina hit our area and we were introduced to the Schlechty Center. We began to see the “ship turn” as we started talking about common beliefs and learning about the Working on the Work framework.

I am particularly interested in helping leaders learn more about the different roles in Working on the Work and the impact the framework can have on student learning. As I reflect, I am so sorry that I did not learn more about the framework, standards, and principles earlier in my career because I missed many opportunities to help students, opportunities that I can never retrieve. My prayer and purpose now is to share with other leaders what I have learned in hope that they will save more and more children and truly “not leave so many behind.”

ANNIE WIMBISH has been a professional educator for more than 30 years. She has served as a teacher assistant, a teacher, a program supervisor, an assistant principal, an elementary school principal, a middle school principal, an assistant superintendent, and as the first female superintendent of Hattiesburg Public School District. She has also served as an instructor for University of North Carolina at Pembroke and as an online instructor for Grand Canyon University. Her interests and responsibilities have included serving on many committees and civic boards of directors at the local and state levels, including the Mississippi Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon Commission for the Redesign of Administrator Preparation, Mississippi’s Race to the Top Action Team, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, and the State Superintendent’s Advisory Council. Nationally, she has partnered with a Fortune 100 company to establish twenty-first-century schools and served on the National Advisory Council of the American Association of School Administrators. Wimbish was named one of Mississippi’s Leading Business Women in 2007. She was president-elect of the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents and was named the 2010 Administrator of the Year by the Mississippi Association of Educational Office Professionals. In working with students, parents, and leaders across the country, Wimbish emphasizes, “It’s not where you come from but where you are going that makes a difference.” She believes that, regardless of socioeconomic status, all children can reach high academic levels.