Dr. T. Nakia Towns has a proven track record of raising the bar for all kids, closing opportunity gaps, increasing graduation rates, and improving postsecondary readiness. As Chief Operating Officer, Nakia serves Accelerate’s program, operations, and research functions. Nakia was previously the Deputy Superintendent of Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS), serving over 180,000 students in Georgia’s largest district, which is also the 11th largest in the country. In this role, she provided strategic direction to all divisions, with a focus on school improvement and operations as well as curriculum and instructional support. Nakia led transformative work in GCPS to pilot high quality instructional materials aligned to the science of reading and full implementation of whole child supports to achieve educational equity.
Before her appointment in GCPS, Nakia served as interim and deputy superintendent at Hamilton County Schools (HCS) in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she led the executive cabinet to ensure that the district’s strategic goals and objectives were met. Initially hired as chief of staff, her experience in business and engineering provided her the perspective to drive continuous improvement across all departments, leading HCS to become the fastest improving district in Tennessee.
Prior to joining Hamilton County, Nakia was Assistant Commissioner, Division of Data and Research, at the Tennessee Department of Education. During her time at the department, she served on the executive leadership team and helped set the strategic direction for PreK-12 educational policy through her work in developing the state’s highly regarded plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Towns, who believes that access to a high-quality public education is foundational to a thriving democracy, spearheaded her division’s efforts in promoting both equity and excellence in Tennessee public schools.
Nakia transitioned to education leadership at Knox County Schools where she rose to Chief Accountability Officer, responsible for evaluating and growing the district’s overall educational return on investment. Towns was instrumental in launching a new teacher leadership model and differentiated compensation plan as a director in human resources. This work facilitated her involvement in developing aspiring school leaders through the district’s partnership with the University of Tennessee Leadership Academy. During her tenure, Knox County Schools became the only large urban district to ever earn the state’s highest accountability designation and achieve a 90% graduation rate.
Nakia is respected nationally for her work in public education. She was selected for the Future Chiefs leadership development program by Chiefs for Change, as well as the Broad Residency in Urban Education by the Broad Center. She has worked as an associate adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University for the education doctorate program and as a practitioner advisor for the Annenberg Institute at Brown University’s EdResearch for Recovery project. Towns has served as an expert peer reviewer, keynote speaker, facilitator, and panelist for numerous conferences and initiatives to support the work of educators across the country.
Assuming roles of increasing responsibility at IBM, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo Bank, Towns began her career in the fields of technology and finance. While in the private sector, she co-founded a nonprofit after-school tutoring and intervention program in rural south Georgia, continuing her lifelong commitment to public education. Her work as a volunteer teacher in the Saturday-school program inspired her to pursue the field of education as her fulltime passion and profession.
At Duke University, Nakia completed a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and an M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business. She also earned an M.Ed. in educational leadership from The Broad Center for Education Management (now at the Yale University School of Management) and a doctorate of education in K-12 leadership and policy from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. She is a Georgia native, where she attended public schools and graduated from Clarke Central High School in Athens.
Contact Nakia