Dr. Michael Cormack is the Chief of Staff for Jackson Public Schools. In this role, he develops and executes the district's new strategic plan Excellence of All. He also manages the work of several key departments including Public Engagement, State and Federal Programs, Data and Accountability, and Human Resources. Prior to his work in JPS, Michael served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Barksdale Reading Institute, a statewide organization dedicated to improving early literacy and teacher development outcomes in Mississippi. The BRI provides teacher and principal literacy professional development and partners with Mississippi school districts and parents to improve kindergarten readiness. Additionally, Michael served as the principal of Quitman County Elementary School in the Mississippi Delta. Working as a team, QCES teachers, students, and parents have dramatically raised student achievement at the school from an "At Risk of Failing" status to "Successful" designation. His transformative work as principal is profiled in the New York Times bestselling memoir Dispatches from Pluto by Richard Grant. Michael has also worked as a classroom teacher and has served in a variety of staff roles with Teach For America - Mississippi. Michael studied philosophy and political science at Boston College. He holds master's degrees in education from Delta State University and Teachers College, Columbia University and completed his doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy at Vanderbilt University. He was selected as a Fellow of the prestigious America Achieves Program, serves as Board Member of the Mississippi Alliance of Nonprofits and Philanthropy, an Education Advisory Board Member for the Mississippi Children's Museum, and as a Clinical Assistant Professor in Education Leadership at the University of Mississippi where he teaches qualitative research methods and ethical leadership in the Hybrid Ed.D. program. He is married to fellow educator Krystal Cormack, and they reside Jackson, Mississippi with their two daughters Kennedy (12) and Madison (11) and son Maxwell (6).