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Heather Holland

Senior Vice President and Executive Director for ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas

Heather is an experienced educator with more than a decade of service to the students of the Dallas Independent School District (ISD), currently serving as the proud Executive Director, Senior Vice President of ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas. Since joining ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas, Heather has worked with the team to bring Dallas’ staff culture to an all-time high and has built strong relationships with Dallas ISD administrators and principals to ensure strong outcomes for students.

Prior to beginning her work at ��ɫ��Ƶ, she successfully led two different campuses in Dallas ISD serving as a principal for five years. During that time, Heather significantly changed the culture of her school and took her school’s climate from the bottom five to the top five in Dallas ISD, created a 23% increase in teacher retention and positively impacted student academic achievement.

Heather is a proud Dallas native and graduate of Dallas ISD, making our daily work with the over 6,000 students truly come full circle.

Alex McCoy, Managing Director of Impact

Alex McCoy serves as Managing Director of Impact for ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas. Alex started her career in education in 2011 as a Teach for America corps member in San Antonio, where she taught fifth grade. In August 2013, Alex moved back home to the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex to work in the Dallas ISD, first teaching middle school math and science before subsequently being elevated to Campus Instructional Coach. For the past four years, Alex has served in various district-level roles in Dallas ISD, including most recently, where she served as a key member of the team championing professional development districtwide for teachers and principals.

Alex joined ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas in late 2020 to lead our impact team comprised of eight professionals and overseeing our program across our seven partner schools.

Katherine Washington, People Experience Director

Katherine has served at ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas for the past six years in various roles. Prior to becoming People Experience Director, she served as an Impact Manager, Impact Director and AmeriCorps Member Experience Director. At the core of each of these roles is ensuring people have a joyous and purposeful experience. Katherine puts a high value on relationships and trust, which led her to her most recent role as the People Experience Director, overseeing alumni engagement, AmeriCorps member and staff experience and onboarding.

Prior to joining ��ɫ��Ƶ, she dabbled in a range of non-profit experiences, including as Shelter Manager for a women’s domestic violence shelter, teaching life skills courses for parents working through Child Protective Services and providing case management for the homeless population.

Katherine was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, but grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, until moving to Texas to attend graduate school for Social Work. Life is complete with the perfect baby girl, partner in life and family who always keeps things interesting!

Tiarra Thomas, Development Director

Tiarra Thomas serves as Development Director with ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas, where she leads the fundraising efforts for the site. Since joining ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas, Tiarra has worked alongside the Executive Director and helped the site raise over $1.85 million in private philanthropy in the 2021-2022 school year—the highest in ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas history. Prior to joining ��ɫ��Ƶ, Tiarra was Assistant Director of Development and Special Projects at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio, where she oversaw strategic identification of leadership prospects and developed strategy to encourage domestic and international philanthropic support of the university.

In addition to her work in development, Tiarra serves on the board of the CWRU African American Alumni Association board as Secretary and Chair of the Student Affairs Committee. She also serves on the Board of Directors for New Journey Church in Cleveland as an advisor to the Pastor.

Tiarra holds a Bachelor’s in English from Case Western Reserve University and a Master’s of Public Administration from Cleveland State University, where she focused on Nonprofit Management.

Boomer Wijeyesinghe, Operations Director

Boomer Wijeyesinghe currently serves as the Operations Director for ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas. Boomer previously led AmeriCorps member teams as an Impact Manager at Elisha M. Pease and Cedar Crest Elementary Schools. Prior to joining the ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas team, Boomer taught Algebra 1 for four years at Thomas Jefferson High School in northwest Dallas—primarily working with English language learners and English as a second language (ESL) newcomers. Boomer is a proud Teach for America alum and also serves as the Policy Manager for Dallas Kids First, a nonprofit focused on advocating for quality Dallas ISD school board candidates.

La’Wanda Maxwell, Community Partnerships Manager

La’Wanda Maxwell currently serves as our Community Partnership Manager at ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas and has been a part of the team for four years. Prior to becoming the Community Partnership Manager, she served as an Impact Manager and Impact Director. La’Wanda is known for her strong relationship-building skills and welcoming personality. She utilizes these skills as the Community Partnership Manager to build lifelong partnerships in the surrounding community.

In addition to her work in the nonprofit sector, she has an extensive background in counseling and career coaching as a career coach at the University of North Texas and the University of Texas at Dallas, as well as a mental health specialist at MetroCare. She has led the ��ɫ��Ƶ Dallas Life After ��ɫ��Ƶ (LACY) programming, is passionate about securing young professionals’ career goals and educating them on the importance of their mental health.

La’Wanda holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology from the University of Texas at Dallas and a Master’s of Marriage and Family Therapy from Valdosta State University.