Barbara E. Thompson, Founder and CEO of DOTS Connected, has dedicated her career to driving large-scale improvements across educational organizations.

Her district leadership experiences include leveraging performance data to improve learning outcomes for nearly 50,000 students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District. She led the design and implementation of evaluation systems that aligned expectations for over 3,000 staff members.

In Chicago, Barbara managed district strategic planning processes and the rollout of district-wide assessments for Chicago Public Schools. She has coached school and district leaders across Chicago and Detroit, overseeing support for more than 50 elementary, middle, and high schools, and leading professional development for hundreds of educators.

Most recently, she helped launch an innovative organization focused on transforming how educators are trained and credentialed. In this capacity, she guided strategy and operations for over $30 million in state-funded programs, including Michigan’s first Registered Apprentice Program for future educators. She led efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into organizational operations.

Barbara began her career as a classroom teacher for the New York City Department of Education, working with kindergarten and first grade students in the South Bronx.

Barbara holds master’s degrees in Education Policy from Columbia University and Elementary Education from Pace University, along with a bachelor's degree in Psychology from the College of Wooster.