Jonathan Eckert has spent his career helping students become more of who they are meant to be. Now the Copple Professor of Educational Leadership at Baylor University and executive director of the Baylor Center for School Leadership, he first taught and coached outside of Chicago and Nashville. After earning a doctorate at Vanderbilt University, he served in the U.S. Department of Education under both the Bush and Obama administrations and later prepared teachers at Wheaton College. Jon and his wife, Carolyn, raised three amazing kids. They are embracing Texas even if Jon still doesn’t own boots or a cowboy hat.