Wayside Schools Adds New Chief Operations Officer, Board Member

Wayside Schools is happy to announce two new additions to the Wayside family.

In late September, Deroald R. Hopkins joined the team as Chief Operations Officer. Hopkins has 25 years of experience, much of it in the education environment. He previously worked as Chief Financial Officer and COO for a private boarding school in Baltimore, Maryland, and as Chief Budget Officer at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin.

The COO oversees day-to-day operational functions at Wayside Schools, including finance, scholar data and human resources. Hopkins spent his first week at Wayside attending a leadership conference in New York, alongside Wayside CEO Matthew Abbott.

“I am excited to now introduce you all to Deroald R. Hopkins, Wayside Schools new Chief Operations Officer (COO),” Abbott said. “As COO, Deroald is in charge of all non-academic activities that lead to scholar success at Wayside. Deroald, comes to Wayside with a ton of school and industry expertise and we could not be more excited to have him.”

In addition, Wayside recently added a new board member. At their September meeting, the Wayside Schools Board of Directors voted to add Matthew Childs. Childs is the co-founder and Principal at Noble Savages Marketing, an Austin-based firm specializing in marketing strategies that nurture stakeholder relationships. His past experience includes leadership roles at Nike, Razorfish, and Highmark. In addition, he is a two-time TED Conference speaker. Childs’ appointment brings the board to nine members.

“We are very pleased to add Matthew to our board,” John Troy, Wayside Schools’ Board President, said. “He is truly motivated by our mission at Wayside Schools, and believes that every child deserves a quality education, regardless of socioeconomic background or zip code. We are very fortunate to have his experience and guidance as we strive to provide quality education for Southeast Austin.”