Eugene S. Ruffin – Chief Executive Officer, Ed Futures
Mr. Ruffin is responsible for guiding organizational and diverse community interests toward a common cause and fulfilling the overall vision and mission of the company.
Mr. Ruffin’s began his professional career as a marketing representative for International Business Machines in 1963. He retired in 1988 as Ericsson CEO of Italian and Brazilian Operations/Corporate Vice President of North America. In 1970 Mr. Ruffin joined the Xerox Corporation where he served as Vice President, Computer Division, Reprographics Division Operations Manager and Xerox San Diego Branch Manager, with responsibilities for all business functions.
His significant accomplishments include the development and launch of the first personal computer by a major manufacturer (Xerox); development of the first indirect delivery system for Xerox products, worldwide, lead the development of the first Ericsson personal computer products, as well as developed and managed the distribution of Ericsson switching and telephony products in North America, Brazil and Italy.
In 1992 Mr. Ruffin focused on the education crisis, specifically the performance of public education in underserved communities. In 1994, Mr. Ruffin co-founded School Futures Research and American Education Reform developing and operating several charter schools while developing and supporting education reform legislation.
Dr. Charlie Mae Knight – National Education Director
Dr. Knight is responsible for academic programs and the attainment of academic performance objectives.
Dr. Knight will provide operational action plans, evaluating short and long range academic needs. Dr. Knight is a nationally recognized as a visionary leader in the education of minority and disadvantaged students. She served for eighteen years as Superintendent of the Ravenswood City School District in Palo Alto, California. Her significant accomplishments include: Returning the district from the brink of bankruptcy to a year ending balance of over three million dollars; settling a ten-year old desegregation suit, increasing teacher salaries by over 25%, allowing the district to succeed in recruiting and maintaining a qualified staff; establishing the only public school program in the United States which is based on the Marva Collins approach; developed corporate and university alliances, as evidenced by the district assistance from Stanford University, the Raychem, Hewlett-Packard Corporations and grants from the San Francisco Packard, Hewlett, Peninsula, and Wells Fargo Foundations; established five charter schools and established a single gender school for troubled adolescent boys in partnership with the San Francisco Forty-niners.
Dr. Knight has also served as Superintendent of Schools for the Lynwood Unified School District in Lynwood, California (1981-1985); Associate Superintendent for California State Department of Education (1978-1981); Director of Special Projects Monterey Unified School District (1970-1978); Coordinator of Compensatory Education; Elementary School Counselor and Teacher; College Instructor and Administrator; Field Studies Coordinator; and Director, Summer Institute for teacher training.
She has served on numerous National Education Boards, is a member of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, California Alliance of Black School Educators, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Phi Delta Kappa, and the American Association of School Administrators.
Gary B. Scott, C.P.A. – Chief Financial Officer
The Chief Financial Officer is responsible for allocating limited company resources among competing fund uses to optimize the value of the firm. The specific responsibilities include; cash flow, debt and asset management.
Gary graduated from the University of West Florida with a B.A. degree in Accounting (Magna Cum Laude). He earned his M.B.A. and has taught accounting courses at the college level. Gary has 20 years of experience in accounting, including 12 years of governmental accounting and finance and eight years of governmental auditing including several audits of Florida school district internal accounts.
Gary worked for four years as a district level financial administrator in a Florida school district, in which capacity he was responsible for budgeting ($165 million operating budget, $350 million total budgets), accounting, accounts payable, purchasing, payroll, MIS, property management, and data processing. Additionally, Gary served on the School Board of Holmes County. This combination of governmental, school district, and school board experience provides Gary with a unique, multi-faceted perspective.
Gerard F. Consuegra, Ph.D. – Education Program Director
The Education Program Director responsibility includes curriculum and support services, curriculum design and review, character education program, annual curriculum review and improvement, professional development and training, onsite observation and feedback, summer academy design. This responsibility also provides support to the principal in quality of service and program development/delivery.
Dr. Consuegra is a graduate of the University of Maryland with a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and a Masters in Early Childhood-Elementary Education. His professional experiences include, Atlanta Public Schools Executive Director for School Choice and Governance, Executive Director for Atlanta Public Schools Standards Director Division of Curriculum Coordination and Implementation, Montgomery County Public Schools, National
Science Teachers Association Reviewer, Consultant Harcourt Brace Jovnovich Publishers and Author “Introducing African American Role Models into Mathematics and Science lessons”, “Solar Rain” and a number of science articles on the environment as a consistent contributor to Science Weekly.
Dr. Consuegra has also received the Award for Distinguished Service to Public Education, the Broome Award for Outstanding Children’s Publications and the Conservation of National Resources Fellowship Award.
Robin Consuegra – Professional Development Manager
PDM responsibilities include: teacher training on effective instruction including best practices, classroom management, reading instruction and balanced literacy, differentiated instruction, reading across the content areas, writing instruction, classroom environment, lesson planning, and quality work.
Robin Consuegra holds a Bachelor of Science with a double major in American studies and elementary education and graduated Summa cum laud. She has certification in early childhood education and a Master’s Equivalency from the Maryland Department of Education with advanced training in reading instruction and facilitative leadership. Recently she served as a Title 1 Specialist, National Consortium on Reading Excellence trainer, and Staff Development Specialist with the Atlanta Public Schools. Previous assignments were as kindergarten and second grade teacher from Baltimore City and Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools. She served as science liaison for her school and has been a grant writer and presenter at national conferences. Her awards include Phi Theta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Societies and Outstanding Achievement in American Studies.
Raymond Green – Director of Development and Operations
Director of Development and Operations will secure contracts, (2) oversee the school development process, (3) finance and control, (4) provide ongoing facilities management support, (5) develop and manage information technology systems, both academic and administrative, (6) develop and manage staff development services.
Raymond Green began his business career over 35 years ago in the IBM Corporation and achieved the rank of Western Regional Manager, responsible for over 800 employees, in sales, service and administration.
A long-time professional in Educational software development, Raymond currently consults for the NATN (National Articulation and Transfer Network) an innovative project to facilitate urban community college students in transferring to Historically Black 4 year colleges along with Tribal and Hispanic serving institutions of higher learning.
Leathon (Buck) Magee – Director of Development and Operations
Director of Development and Operations will secure contracts, (2) oversee the school development process, (3) finance and control, (4) provide ongoing facilities management support, (5) develop and manage information technology systems, both academic and administrative, (6) develop and manage staff development services.
Buck is a former Air Force Accounting and Budget Director with continuing experience in city government, higher education, health care and faith base management. His fiscal and management experience includes, Budget director of the $1.1 B Titan II Space Launch Vehicle Program, Executive Director of the Community Partnership for A Drug Free Shreveport, Business Manager of David Raines Community Health Center, Executive Assistant to Mayor of Shreveport, Special Assistant to President and Budget Director at Grambling State University, and Pastor of St. John Baptist Church in Mansfield Louisiana.
In addition, Buck has over eight years of educational management experience as a consultant for charter school development with White Hat Management of Akron Ohio; Schools Futures, Inc. He is currently serving in his eighth year as Pastor of the St. John Church. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Mississippi Valley State University and is a graduate of both Leadership Shreveport/Bossier and Leadership Louisiana.
Dr. Vernon Allwood – Southern Region Market Development Director
Responsible for school growth in the Southern Region.
Dr. L. Vernon Allwood received his Bachelor of Science Degree in mathematics from Queens College of the City University of New York, his Masters Degree in counselor education from Queens College, and his Ph.D. in counseling education from Fordham University in New York. He taught mathematics and science in the New York City Public Schools for more than ten years. After receiving his advanced degrees, he served as the Director of Counseling at John Jay College in New York and as Associate Director of Counseling at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
He has extensive experience in the development of mentoring programs and is a founding and board member of the International Mentoring Association. While at Morehouse College, he developed the Morehouse Mentoring Program where college students served as role models and mentors for elementary school children. This program acquired national recognition by receiving the Thousand Points of Light Award from President Clinton. Dr. Allwood developed and directed adolescent rites of passage programs that contributed to the positive development for African American males in the city of Atlanta. He also served as a consultant for the Children’s Defense Fund where he was involved in a project to develop a rites of passage manual for adolescent children.
Dr. Allwood recently retired from his position as the Director of Community Relations and Special Projects at the Morehouse School of Medicine. In this capacity, he developed several initiatives to increase the numbers of African American students in the educational pipeline for careers in biomedical science and the health professions. He is presently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine where he is engaged in several research initiatives involving adolescent health.
Mark Hardon Long – Eastern Region Market Development Director
Responsible for school growth in the Eastern Region.
Prior to joining Ed Futures, Mr. Long was Regional Director of Marketing and Development for Learn Now, an education management organization based in New York, New York. While at Learn Now, Mr. Long oversaw new business development and corporate mergers. Mr. Long supported the development of seven new charter schools and the management responsibility for two existing ones.
In addition to his experience in the education management field, Mr. Long has expertise in entertainment management—having worked as Production Vice President for Mahogany Entertainment, Inc. This firm manages three of the top gospel music artists in the U.S., and also produces major national and regional public and entertainment events. Mr. Long was a Stock Broker with Smith Barney in Beverly Hills, California from 1994 until 1997. He began his career in Sales at Xerox Corporation in 1990, after graduating from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, with a B.A. in Marketing.
He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Joshua Group Ministries in Silver Spring, Maryland, and is Executive Director of the church’s development corporation. Mr. Long is also an active member of the National Council of Negro Women.
Ed Futures Management Team
Eugene S. Ruffin – Chief Executive Officer, Ed Futures
Mr. Ruffin is responsible for guiding organizational and diverse community interests toward a common cause and fulfilling the overall vision and mission of the company.
Mr. Ruffin’s began his professional career as a marketing representative for International Business Machines in 1963. He retired in 1988 as Ericsson CEO of Italian and Brazilian Operations/Corporate Vice President of North America. In 1970 Mr. Ruffin joined the Xerox Corporation where he served as Vice President, Computer Division, Reprographics Division Operations Manager and Xerox San Diego Branch Manager, with responsibilities for all business functions.
His significant accomplishments include the development and launch of the first personal computer by a major manufacturer (Xerox); development of the first indirect delivery system for Xerox products, worldwide, lead the development of the first Ericsson personal computer products, as well as developed and managed the distribution of Ericsson switching and telephony products in North America, Brazil and Italy.
In 1992 Mr. Ruffin focused on the education crisis, specifically the performance of public education in underserved communities. In 1994, Mr. Ruffin co-founded School Futures Research and American Education Reform developing and operating several charter schools while developing and supporting education reform legislation.
Dr. Charlie Mae Knight – National Education Director
Dr. Knight is responsible for academic programs and the attainment of academic performance objectives.
Dr. Knight will provide operational action plans, evaluating short and long range academic needs. Dr. Knight is a nationally recognized as a visionary leader in the education of minority and disadvantaged students. She served for eighteen years as Superintendent of the Ravenswood City School District in Palo Alto, California. Her significant accomplishments include: Returning the district from the brink of bankruptcy to a year ending balance of over three million dollars; settling a ten-year old desegregation suit, increasing teacher salaries by over 25%, allowing the district to succeed in recruiting and maintaining a qualified staff; establishing the only public school program in the United States which is based on the Marva Collins approach; developed corporate and university alliances, as evidenced by the district assistance from Stanford University, the Raychem, Hewlett-Packard Corporations and grants from the San Francisco Packard, Hewlett, Peninsula, and Wells Fargo Foundations; established five charter schools and established a single gender school for troubled adolescent boys in partnership with the San Francisco Forty-niners.
Dr. Knight has also served as Superintendent of Schools for the Lynwood Unified School District in Lynwood, California (1981-1985); Associate Superintendent for California State Department of Education (1978-1981); Director of Special Projects Monterey Unified School District (1970-1978); Coordinator of Compensatory Education; Elementary School Counselor and Teacher; College Instructor and Administrator; Field Studies Coordinator; and Director, Summer Institute for teacher training.
She has served on numerous National Education Boards, is a member of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, California Alliance of Black School Educators, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Phi Delta Kappa, and the American Association of School Administrators.
Gary B. Scott, C.P.A. – Chief Financial Officer
The Chief Financial Officer is responsible for allocating limited company resources among competing fund uses to optimize the value of the firm. The specific responsibilities include; cash flow, debt and asset management.
Gary graduated from the University of West Florida with a B.A. degree in Accounting (Magna Cum Laude). He earned his M.B.A. and has taught accounting courses at the college level. Gary has 20 years of experience in accounting, including 12 years of governmental accounting and finance and eight years of governmental auditing including several audits of Florida school district internal accounts.
Gary worked for four years as a district level financial administrator in a Florida school district, in which capacity he was responsible for budgeting ($165 million operating budget, $350 million total budgets), accounting, accounts payable, purchasing, payroll, MIS, property management, and data processing. Additionally, Gary served on the School Board of Holmes County. This combination of governmental, school district, and school board experience provides Gary with a unique, multi-faceted perspective.
Gerard F. Consuegra, Ph.D. – Education Program Director
The Education Program Director responsibility includes curriculum and support services, curriculum design and review, character education program, annual curriculum review and improvement, professional development and training, onsite observation and feedback, summer academy design. This responsibility also provides support to the principal in quality of service and program development/delivery.
Dr. Consuegra is a graduate of the University of Maryland with a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and a Masters in Early Childhood-Elementary Education. His professional experiences include, Atlanta Public Schools Executive Director for School Choice and Governance, Executive Director for Atlanta Public Schools Standards Director Division of Curriculum Coordination and Implementation, Montgomery County Public Schools, National
Science Teachers Association Reviewer, Consultant Harcourt Brace Jovnovich Publishers and Author “Introducing African American Role Models into Mathematics and Science lessons”, “Solar Rain” and a number of science articles on the environment as a consistent contributor to Science Weekly.
Dr. Consuegra has also received the Award for Distinguished Service to Public Education, the Broome Award for Outstanding Children’s Publications and the Conservation of National Resources Fellowship Award.
Robin Consuegra – Professional Development Manager
PDM responsibilities include: teacher training on effective instruction including best practices, classroom management, reading instruction and balanced literacy, differentiated instruction, reading across the content areas, writing instruction, classroom environment, lesson planning, and quality work.
Robin Consuegra holds a Bachelor of Science with a double major in American studies and elementary education and graduated Summa cum laud. She has certification in early childhood education and a Master’s Equivalency from the Maryland Department of Education with advanced training in reading instruction and facilitative leadership. Recently she served as a Title 1 Specialist, National Consortium on Reading Excellence trainer, and Staff Development Specialist with the Atlanta Public Schools. Previous assignments were as kindergarten and second grade teacher from Baltimore City and Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools. She served as science liaison for her school and has been a grant writer and presenter at national conferences. Her awards include Phi Theta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Societies and Outstanding Achievement in American Studies.
Raymond Green – Director of Development and Operations
Director of Development and Operations will secure contracts, (2) oversee the school development process, (3) finance and control, (4) provide ongoing facilities management support, (5) develop and manage information technology systems, both academic and administrative, (6) develop and manage staff development services.
Raymond Green began his business career over 35 years ago in the IBM Corporation and achieved the rank of Western Regional Manager, responsible for over 800 employees, in sales, service and administration.
A long-time professional in Educational software development, Raymond currently consults for the NATN (National Articulation and Transfer Network) an innovative project to facilitate urban community college students in transferring to Historically Black 4 year colleges along with Tribal and Hispanic serving institutions of higher learning.
Leathon (Buck) Magee – Director of Development and Operations
Director of Development and Operations will secure contracts, (2) oversee the school development process, (3) finance and control, (4) provide ongoing facilities management support, (5) develop and manage information technology systems, both academic and administrative, (6) develop and manage staff development services.
Buck is a former Air Force Accounting and Budget Director with continuing experience in city government, higher education, health care and faith base management. His fiscal and management experience includes, Budget director of the $1.1 B Titan II Space Launch Vehicle Program, Executive Director of the Community Partnership for A Drug Free Shreveport, Business Manager of David Raines Community Health Center, Executive Assistant to Mayor of Shreveport, Special Assistant to President and Budget Director at Grambling State University, and Pastor of St. John Baptist Church in Mansfield Louisiana.
In addition, Buck has over eight years of educational management experience as a consultant for charter school development with White Hat Management of Akron Ohio; Schools Futures, Inc. He is currently serving in his eighth year as Pastor of the St. John Church. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Mississippi Valley State University and is a graduate of both Leadership Shreveport/Bossier and Leadership Louisiana.
Dr. Vernon Allwood – Southern Region Market Development Director
Responsible for school growth in the Southern Region.
Dr. L. Vernon Allwood received his Bachelor of Science Degree in mathematics from Queens College of the City University of New York, his Masters Degree in counselor education from Queens College, and his Ph.D. in counseling education from Fordham University in New York. He taught mathematics and science in the New York City Public Schools for more than ten years. After receiving his advanced degrees, he served as the Director of Counseling at John Jay College in New York and as Associate Director of Counseling at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
He has extensive experience in the development of mentoring programs and is a founding and board member of the International Mentoring Association. While at Morehouse College, he developed the Morehouse Mentoring Program where college students served as role models and mentors for elementary school children. This program acquired national recognition by receiving the Thousand Points of Light Award from President Clinton. Dr. Allwood developed and directed adolescent rites of passage programs that contributed to the positive development for African American males in the city of Atlanta. He also served as a consultant for the Children’s Defense Fund where he was involved in a project to develop a rites of passage manual for adolescent children.
Dr. Allwood recently retired from his position as the Director of Community Relations and Special Projects at the Morehouse School of Medicine. In this capacity, he developed several initiatives to increase the numbers of African American students in the educational pipeline for careers in biomedical science and the health professions. He is presently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine where he is engaged in several research initiatives involving adolescent health.
Mark Hardon Long – Eastern Region Market Development Director
Responsible for school growth in the Eastern Region.
Prior to joining Ed Futures, Mr. Long was Regional Director of Marketing and Development for Learn Now, an education management organization based in New York, New York. While at Learn Now, Mr. Long oversaw new business development and corporate mergers. Mr. Long supported the development of seven new charter schools and the management responsibility for two existing ones.
In addition to his experience in the education management field, Mr. Long has expertise in entertainment management—having worked as Production Vice President for Mahogany Entertainment, Inc. This firm manages three of the top gospel music artists in the U.S., and also produces major national and regional public and entertainment events. Mr. Long was a Stock Broker with Smith Barney in Beverly Hills, California from 1994 until 1997. He began his career in Sales at Xerox Corporation in 1990, after graduating from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, with a B.A. in Marketing.
He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Joshua Group Ministries in Silver Spring, Maryland, and is Executive Director of the church’s development corporation. Mr. Long is also an active member of the National Council of Negro Women.