Dr. Mikal Anderson is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Prototype Entities – an equity focused management consulting firm that delivers solutions to maximize the educational and economic outcomes of underserved populations. As an executive in the firm, he leverages his numerous years of expertise in instructional pedagogy, school operations and redesign, education policy, human capital, public finance, nonprofit management, and organizational development to lead the organization’s education, economic development, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) ventures. Dr. Anderson holds experience in leading system-wide initiatives focusing on the acquisition, retention, and diversification of educator pipelines, which include talent development endeavors concentrating on the cultivation of new teachers and school administrators. He manages relationships between universities and K-12 institutions to enhance teacher preparation and community-based programs, and has guided partnerships between local educational agencies and the private sector in the areas of career and technical education and workforce development. Additionally, he supports organizations with strategic planning, talent acquisition and management, talent development, and program evaluation processes; and he delivers professional development and coaching to numerous organizations on the topics of race, equity, diversity and inclusion, cultural competence, culturally responsive pedagogy, culturally responsive leadership, and restorative practices.
During his tenure in New Orleans, Dr. Anderson served on the YouthForce NOLA Steering Committee where he worked collaboratively with systems leaders from Orleans Parish School Board and the Recovery School District to strategize and implement school redesign efforts related to career and technical education in alignment to Louisiana’s Jump Start Graduation Pathways. In addition, he consulted and thought partnered with leaders at the state-wide Recovery School District on strategies to revise the One-App enrollment process; and make school selection procedures more inclusive of the diverse array of programs offered in New Orleans, rather than a system driven by entire schools as the units of selection. Dr. Anderson also led efforts with colleagues at the Recovery School District and national consultants to codify best practices in special education and generate a blueprint to ensure quality instruction and services for special needs populations in all New Orleans public schools. Additionally, he served in numerous instructional, cultural, and supervisory roles as an educational practitioner in the Philadelphia area. As a trained educator with a general and special education background, Dr. Anderson is deeply committed to initiatives that promote high-quality educational opportunities for all scholars – regardless of their socio-economic status and diverse learning needs. More importantly, he is steadfastly devoted to disrupting intergenerational poverty for minority and socio-economically disadvantaged populations, and he affirms that education and economic development are the vehicles to achieve this aim.
Dr. Anderson is an inaugural member of the research and practice advisory team for the Bernard C. Watson Endowed Chair in Urban Education at Temple University. Through his research, he has developed quantitative and qualitative measures to assess student engagement and school culture with a specific focus on mitigating the misrepresentation of minority students in special education and disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline. Additionally, Dr. Anderson leverages his understanding and research of culturally responsive leadership practices, organizational culture dynamics, and organizational change management to support institutions with improving their culture, climate, performance, and equity initiatives.
Dr. Anderson is an active member of the community who deeply supports initiatives that further the development of youth. He is a proud alumnus of Education Pioneers, and a Justice Revius O. Ortique Leadership Institute Fellow, NexusCity Fellow, New Leaders Council – Louisiana Chapter Fellow, as well as a Fellow of the Loyola University New Orleans Institute of Politics. In addition, Dr. Anderson is an active member of Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color, the Urban League of Greater New Orleans – Young Professionals, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated.
Dr. Anderson is a second generation graduate of The Episcopal Academy located in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Education in Secondary Education from Temple University, and a Doctor of Education degree in Global Education from the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education. Additionally, Dr. Anderson obtained a Certificate in Education Policy and Program Evaluation as well as an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, and he completed graduate studies in Special Education at Saint Joseph’s University.