Dr. Donoso brings more than 30 years of proven experience, achieving unprecedented outcomes for student success across the country. Before joining NSBR, she served as Chief Strategy Officer for Linked Learning Alliance. She has held senior leadership roles in various districts and charter organizations, including the Chief Education Officer for Chicago Public Schools, the Chief of Innovation and Reform for Denver Public Schools, and the Chief Academic Officer for Camino Nuevo Charter Academy. Dr. Donoso is a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow and earned a doctoral degree from the University of Southern California, a master's degree from Rutgers University, and a 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.

‍

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.

‍

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.

‍

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.

‍

A native of Baton Rouge, Richard joined New Schools for Baton Rouge as Director of Communications in October 2023. Before coming on board, Richard built a 25-year career in education, serving in admissions, college placement, marketing, communications, and public relations for both college preparatory and post-secondary institutions.

Richard received his bachelor's degree from Southeastern Louisiana University and his master's from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. Richard and his wife Katie have two children, Rece and Presley.

Brandy is a graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University, where she received her B.A. in Elementary Education. She continued to work with children at the Paula G. Manship YMCA. After many years in pharmaceutical sales, Brandy worked as an Account Executive for BIC Magazine and the Baton Rouge Business Report. Brandy provides operations support to the NSBR team and directly supports the administrative needs of the CEO and COO.

‍

Brandy is a Baton Rouge native with three children.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006, Lindsay Bardes happily escaped the Wisconsin weather and moved to sunny New Orleans. For a decade, Lindsay had the privilege of teaching early elementary at three schools (Fannie C. Williams Elementary, Lafayette Charter School, and KIPP Central City Primary) across the Crescent City before taking on roles in school leadership, teacher coaching, curriculum writing, and instructional consulting. After spending the past three years as the Director of Curriculum and Instruction for Social Studies at ReNEW Charter Schools, Lindsay has transitioned to her new role as Schools Manager with New Schools for Baton Rouge, where she is eager to work with teachers, leaders, and schools to improve educational outcomes for students across the capital city.

Lindsay holds a bachelor’s degree from UW-Madison, where she majored in Social Work, African American Studies, and French. She received her teaching certification from the University of New Orleans and her M.Ed. from RELAY Graduate School of Education, where she graduated with distinction. Lindsay now lives in Baton Rouge with her husband, John, and their two children- Malcolm and Lila Rae.

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. 

‍

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