Spring
Conference
Speakers
Every Spring the National Christian School Association hosts a conference in one of our member school’s cities. This conference is designed to inspire and educate Christian school administrators and educators.
SPEAKERS
Shane Jackson
Author of “Fostering Culture: A Leader’s Guide to Purposely Shaping Culture” and President of Jackson Healthcare
Shane Jackson serves as president of Jackson Healthcare and is the primary guiding force for its mission of improving the delivery of patient care and the lives of everyone it touches. Since assuming this role in 2014, he has consistently led the organization of 16 healthcare staffing, search and technology companies to growth of more than double the industry average, crossing the two-billion-dollar annual revenue mark in 2022. Prior to his current position, he was president of LocumTenens.com, Patient Placement Systems and NextStart Capital. Shane is an advocate for the power of business leaders as a positive force for people and the community.
He is a speaker on the conference circuit and frequently writes on the topic of intentionally nurturing a values-based culture. In addition to having served as a contributor to media outlets, including Forbes and Fast Company, he shares insight into leadership, culture and living with purpose on his website, ShaneJackson.com. In 2018, he published Fostering Culture: A Leader’s Guide to Purposely Shaping Culture, his first book chronicling his philosophy on workplace culture.
Over the past six years, Shane has been recognized on Staffing Industry Analysts’ Staffing 100, a list of the top North American leaders shaping the industry and influencing the workforce solutions ecosystem. In 2022, he was named to Georgia Trend Magazine’s Georgia 500 and the Georgia Titan 100 lists. And in 2020, he received the distinguished Jerry Noyce Executive Health Champion Award from HERO, the Health Enhancement Research Organization, for his contributions in advancing employee health and wellbeing — as well as the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Corporate Citizenship Award. Shane serves on the boards of 3DE and King’s Ridge Christian School. He also is vice chair of the leader-led goBeyondProfit business initiative that promotes the belief that giving back is good for business and good for Georgia. He earned an MBA from Emory University and Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Harding University.
Dr. Candice McQueen
Lipscomb University President
Dr. Candice McQueen was appointed the 18th president of Lipscomb University on Aug. 4, 2021. She has more than 20 years of experience in education spanning classroom teaching, higher education leadership, state government and nonprofit sectors. Prior to her appointment at Lipscomb, McQueen was CEO of the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) from January 2019 through August 2021. NIET is a national nonprofit founded by the Milken Education Foundation to encourage and incentivize teaching excellence in undergraduate and higher education classrooms using federal and state grants and philanthropic gifts to support its programs. As CEO, McQueen has overseen substantial growth of NIET’s work, including increasing service revenue and partnerships by almost 40% in three years, receiving more than $50 million in new multiyear federal and state grants, and significantly increasing NIET’s national profile and influence on improving educator effectiveness to ensure every student achieves. From January 2015 to January 2019, McQueen served as Tennessee commissioner of education under former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam.
Dr. Tyler Thigpen
Co-founder & Head of Schools of The Forest School
Tyler grew up in Georgia and has worked in innovative district, private, and charter schools, as well as statewide and national nonprofits. Tyler is co-founder and head of The Forest School: An Acton Academy in Trilith, head of the Institute for Self-Directed Learning, and Academic Director at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Formerly, Tyler was partner at Transcend, a national nonprofit in school redesign, and worked closely on innovative school projects such as nXu, Whittle, The Academy Group, Washington Leadership Academy, Art in Motion, Hebrew Public, Teton Science's Place Network, EL Education, and the Brooklyn STEAM Center. Tyler also co-founded MENTOR Georgia, Transforming Teaching at Harvard, and the Chattahoochee Hills Charter School. Earlier, Tyler worked as head of the upper school at The Mount Vernon School in Atlanta, Spanish teacher in Gwinnett County public schools, and minister at the Grace family of churches where he led international development in Peru in areas of healthcare, education, poverty reduction, infrastructure, and human rights. Tyler holds a doctoral degree in education leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education, a master’s in public administration from Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a master’s in theological studies from Regent College of the University of British Columbia. Tyler has written about the future of learning in the Washington Post, Education Week, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Getting Smart, and others. Tyler lives with his four children, all of whom attended The Forest School, in Trilith.
