NMSI Welcomes New Executive Team Members

NMSI is pleased to welcome three new executives to its leadership team to support the organization’s overall mission of improving teacher effectiveness and student achievement in the critical subjects of science, technology, engineering and math. Matthew Randazzo has joined NMSI as Chief Growth and Strategy Officer; Richard S. Brown is Chief Research Officer; and Rick Doucette joins as Chief Information Officer.
 
“We are thrilled that these three executives have joined our team to help shape NMSI’s future,” said Sara Martinez Tucker, CEO of NMSI.  “As we continue to expand our programs to reach more students, teachers and schools, our organization’s continued success will depend on pursuing a solid strategic plan, evaluating our progress through sophisticated research, and creating a state-of-the-art technology infrastructure to support our work.”
 
As Chief Growth and Strategy Officer, Matthew Randazzo will plan and implement NMSI’s external engagement strategies, including cultivation of public-private partnerships to grow NMSI’s footprint while deepening its impact in target communities throughout the country.  Prior to joining NMSI, he was founding president and CEO of Choose to Succeed, where he mobilized $45 million in local, state and national pledges to support exceptional, tuition-free public education options for families in San Antonio.  He previously served as chief growth officer for IDEA Public Schools, a network of tuition-free, K-12 public charter schools serving more than 20,000 students in 36 schools throughout Texas.  Randazzo earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and Latin American studies from Albion College in Michigan, and a Master of Public Affairs from The University of Texas at Austin.
 
Richard S. Brown, NMSI’s new Chief Research Officer, is responsible for directing a program of research, systems and measures to evaluate the effectiveness of NMSI’s core programs in improving teacher performance and student achievement.  He previously served as an associate research professor at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education and as an assistant professor of education and director of the Center for Research in Educational Assessment and Measurement at the University of California, Irvine.  Brown also held a research position at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at UCLA.  He has an MBA from the University of California, Irvine, and a PhD in advanced quantitative methods from UCLA.
 
As Chief Information Officer at NMSI, Rick Doucette will establish the organization’s strategic technology vision, build and manage its information technology infrastructure, and expand its online educator learning platforms and programs.  He has specialized in the mid-market transformation CIO role at organizations including NBS, MetroPCS, UICI and AdvancePCS, where he created strategic technology blueprints to successfully integrate key business acquisitions, deploy new products and implement new enterprise applications.  Most recently, he owned and managed a professional IT consulting firm.  Doucette holds bachelor’s degrees in computer science and statistics from the University of New Brunswick in eastern Canada