The Mind Trust Promotes Two Managers to Directors
INDIANAPOLIS – (January 14, 2025) – Today, The Mind Trust, an Indianapolis-based education nonprofit, announced the promotion of two staff members. Allison Edwards-Marker has been promoted to Director of Digital Communications, and Kurt Waywood has been promoted to Director of Talent and School Growth.
“I’m proud to celebrate the promotions of Allison Edwards-Marker and Kurt Waywood. Their experience, specialized strengths, and proven leadership position them well to take on expanded responsibilities and drive our work forward. I’m confident they will continue to strengthen outcomes for students,” said Brandon Brown, CEO of The Mind Trust.
Both of these roles will be crucial to The Mind Trust’s work to grow high-quality charter schools, support schools and educators, and engage the community across the Indianapolis, Indiana, and Connecticut educational landscapes. Since 2006, The Mind Trust has supported the launch of more than 50 schools, 15 education nonprofit organizations, and has helped place over 1,800 teachers and school leaders.
Promotions
Allison Edwards-Marker, Director of Digital Communications
Formerly The Mind Trust’s Manager of Digital Communications, Allison Edwards-Marker, has been promoted to Director of Digital Communications. In her more than three years with The Mind Trust, Edwards-Marker has significantly elevated the visual brand of the organization. In addition to creating beautiful designs for reports and collateral, she has grown our social media following and presence, produced high-quality data visualizations, and created new brands for our programs and partners, such as Summer Learning Labs and our 20th anniversary logo. In this new role, Edwards-Marker will expand her leadership of design, branding, and advertising work with schools and partners locally, statewide, and nationally while continuing to provide graphic design support across the organization.
Before joining The Mind Trust, Edwards-Marker worked at Indianapolis Monthly for two decades, with the most recent role being Special Projects Art Director. She is the recipient of numerous national and international awards for magazine design.
Click here to learn more about Allison Edwards-Marker.
Kurt Waywood, Director of Talent & School Growth
Previously, The Mind Trust’s Manager of Leadership, Kurt Waywood, has been promoted to Director of Talent & School Growth. Waywood has been with The Mind Trust for over three years, and during this last year, Waywood has taken on expanded responsibilities, including launching the Indy Ed Leadership Network, a non-selective talent initiative training emerging leaders across the city, and serving as a resource to schools seeking enrollment and birth-rate data to inform growth decisions. In his new role, Waywood will support the implementation of key strategic projects, analyze enrollment, demographic, and policy trends that affect school growth, and conduct landscape evaluations for our local and national expansion efforts. He will also continue contributing to The Mind Trust’s fellowship programming by briefing leaders on the systems and conditions that support their schools.
Waywood most recently served as a fifth-grade teacher for Lebanon Community School Corporation and was a classroom teacher for eight years.