Leadership and Board

Jeremy Mann

Head of School

Jeremy Mann has served as Head of School since founding The Field School in 2017. He began his career as a special education teacher in a low-income public school in Los Angeles, and then worked as a teacher coach in Chicago with Teach For America. He has a B.A. in philosophy and great books from Biola University, an M.A. in special education with an emphasis in urban education from Loyola Marymount University, an M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in systematic theology from Wheaton College. Jeremy lives in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago with his wife Erin, a former nurse practitioner at Lawndale Christian Health Center, and their five children, three of whom attend The Field School.

Brian Williams

Principal

Brian left his home town of Albuquerque, NM, to attend Wheaton College, where he graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in English Literature. After graduating, he taught for three years in the West Town neighborhood of Chicago through Teach For America. He earned his M.A. in Teaching at Dominican University, along with certifications in bilingual and ESL education. When he learned that a school was starting that would join his calling to work with students from diverse backgrounds with a focus on Christ-centered, classical education, he was thrilled to move to the Austin neighborhood and join The Field School as the founding Kindergarten teacher. He took on the role of Principal in 2021 and continues to delight in great texts and how they inspire children. He, his wife Priscila, and their daughter Alana live in Austin and are part of The Brook church in the Montclare neighborhood.

Paul Canada

Dean of Students & Athletic Director

Paul Canada was raised in Brookneal, Virginia and has spent over 30 years in youth development and leadership. His experience includes serving as Youth Pastor of the Rock of our Salvation Church in Chicago, co-founding Jireh Sports Ministry in Indianapolis, serving as Vice Principal of the Circle Rock Prep School, and founding the Flipside Academy of Movement. Paul has a B.S. degree in Youth Ministry from Liberty University. He is married to Carol and has five children ages 15 to 25 years old.

Jaemey Bush

Director of Admissions

Jaemey Bush was born and raised in Chicago and has lived on the west side for the past nine years with her husband and three children, two of whom who attend The Field School. She earned a B.A. in Spanish Literature at Colorado College and an M.A. in Intercultural Studies and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Wheaton College. She has taught teens at Glenbrook South High School, refugees at World Relief, and immigrants at College of DuPage and Our Lady of Tepeyac Headstart. Jaemey has served on the council as an elected parent member at a local Chicago Public School for three years. She is an active member of New Life Community Church.

Keith Davis

Head of Finance and Operations

Keith Davis was raised in Marietta, Georgia and has lived in Birmingham, Alabama for 20 years with his wife, Elaine, and three girls (ages 6, 8, and 10). He earned a B.A. in Accounting from Samford University and is a Certified Professional Accountant. He has worked in non-profit finance for over 12 years. Keith currently serves as a shepherding elder and finance chair at Redeemer Community Church in Birmingham. In his free time, he enjoys camping, cycling and hiking. Keith and his family will move to Chicago in June 2024 to join The Field School. 

Grace Liu

Head of Advancement

Grace joined The Field School’s Office of Advancement in 2021, serving as Advancement & Partnerships Associate and Campaign Director. In addition to her work with Advancement, Grace leads various music initiatives at The Field School, including the student chapel bands. Originally from Virginia, Grace graduated from Vanderbilt University with highest honors in Human & Organizational Development and Violin Performance. Prior to The Field School, Grace worked at Siloam Health in Nashville, TN and helped found the Asian American Christian Collaborative. Grace also serves as Communications Assistant for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, performs and teaches with local performing arts organizations, and helps lead the youth ministry and a community group at Chicago West Bible Church.

Annie Houghton

Dean of Community Life

Annie Houghton has served in various capacities at the school since its founding. Previously, Annie was on staff with Young Life for 20 years, speaking, developing, and fundraising. She graduated from the University of Illinois summa cum laude with a B.A. in Child and Adolescent Development. She is married to Jon and has four kids, 9 to 18 years old. Two of them attend The Field School.

LaToya Lee

Director of Student Care & Extended Care

LaToya Lee was born and raised in Chicago. LaToya has lived mostly on the West Side of Chicago, where her love for children and families began. Before The Field School, LaToya volunteered at different schools and children programs. She served in children’s ministry at Park Community Church for ten years, eight of which she served as Children's Director. LaToya has four children and has lived in the East Garfield neighborhood for the past nine years.

Courtney Gonzalez

Office Manager

Courtney Gonzalez was raised in the western suburbs of Chicago and attended the University of Illinois. She and her husband have three children together, all of whom attend The Field School. Prior to working at The Field School, Courtney served as a private-practice doula to the Chicago community for seven years. She enjoys being with her family and friends, cooking, carpentry and household projects, singing, and being in nature. She attends Cross Culture Church.

Alena Wilson

Operations Manager & Classroom Aide Supervisor

Alena Wilson is a proud native of Chicago. Born and raised on the South Side, Alena and her husband David decided to raise their two boys on the South Side as well. Alena and her husband served in the U.S. Army for eight years and got married while attending Ball State University. Outside of The Field School, Alena runs the family business Little Squeeze, started in 2020, and also enjoys gardening, working out, and reading African American fiction. She currently attends Compassion Baptist Church. This is Alena's third year at The Field School.

Dana Cooper

Chair

Dana Cooper has 30 years’ experience growing and leading start-up Christ-centered schools in Cincinnati and Indianapolis. She shared her experience as Chief Advancement Officer and Assistant Head of School with the founders of The Field School and volunteered to help communicate its mission and vision to potential families, partners, and donors before TFS opened in September 2017. As an inaugural board member, Dana has served as Advancement Committee Chair, Board Secretary, and Vice Chair. She has a B.A. in liberal arts and a M.Ed. in educational administration from Xavier University. She and her husband are parents of two adult children educated in the Cincinnati Christ-centered start-up, now both married and parents of five children and four pets.

Neil Tan

Vice-Chair

Neil is a retired Executive Pastor who served at his former church in Connecticut, where he was a member for thirty years. Born in Malaysia, he lived in England for eighteen years, where he earned a Ph.D. in robotics and a post-graduate diploma in theology, before moving to the USA to work for UPS in various technical and management roles. His board experience includes serving on a regional board of OMF (Overseas Missionary Fellowship), as an elder at several local churches, and with a faith-based organization called The Jericho Partnership that serves local at-risk youth. He and his wife, Eva, have three grown-up children and ten grandchildren. They currently live in Los Angeles and attend a campus of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest.

Phil Nussbaum

Treasurer

Phil Nussbaum was a co-founder and Chairman of Performance Trust Capital Partners, a financial services firm headquartered in Chicago. He is retired from that work but still sits on the board of its sister company, Performance Trust Asset Management. Phil graduated with high honors from Wheaton College with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics; he has an M.B.A. in finance from the University of Chicago. Phil and his wife Judy have four adult children, including Mary Nussbaum, a founding first grade teacher at The Field School. Phil has served as an elder at College Church in Wheaton. He currently serves on the boards of the Charles Simeon Trust (expository preaching ministry), Decision Point (evangelistic ministry in high schools), and 4VEH (a Christian media ministry in northern Haiti).

John Searls

Secretary

John Searls was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. After graduating from Purdue University, he began working in the construction supply and real estate development sector. Today he is self-employed with a focus on developing small to midsize multi-family buildings, along with an emphasis on window and door supply and installation. He is passionate about serving in the local church and is a board member at Chicago Tabernacle where he has attended for 16 years. He resides in the West Loop with his wife Bethany and two young daughters who attend The Field School.

Daisey Dowell

Chair Emeritus

Daisey Dowell is a pediatrician at Lawndale Christian Health Center and Medical Director of the Homan Square LCHC site, where she has worked since 2006. She attended medical school at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago and completed pediatric residency at the Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago. Prior to medical school, she served as a high school science teacher for Chicago Public Schools for eight years. It was through this experience that she developed a love for education and child advocacy. Daisey and her husband Jasper are parents to two adult children and have lived in the Austin community for over 30 years.

Lauren Akinlawon

Lauren Akinlawon grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and has been living on the West Side for eight years. She is the Project Manager for a new Children’s Museum coming to North Lawndale and also works as a part-time Speech Pathologist for The Field School. Lauren received her B.A. from Augustana College and her M.A. in Speech Pathology from the University of Northern Iowa. Lauren has previously served as the Board Chair for God’s Treasures, a therapeutic day school for children with special needs based in Nicaragua. Since moving to Chicago in 2006, Lauren has been actively volunteering and involved with a various organizations on the West Side including Breakthrough Urban Ministries, 1LCDC, City of Refuge, and Reborn Ministries. Additionally, she has served as the speech therapy team lead at Aspire Children’s Services, Shriners Hospital, and L.E.A.R.N Charter School. She currently resides in Austin with her husband and two kids.

Cortlandt Armstrong

Cortlandt Armstrong serves as Director of Account Management within Meta’s Global Business Group. He leads a $2Billion sales organization that aims to empower over a thousand Mid-Market companies to grow, scale, and reach their full potential on Meta platforms. Beyond his professional responsibilities, Cortlandt is a Diversity and Inclusion advocate and community builder. He serves as Chicago’s Vets@ chapter Co-lead (Meta’s Veterans employee resource group). He also helped launch Elevate Advanced Access, a program that enables minority-owned businesses to use Meta as an economic catalyst for growth. Prior to Meta, Cortlandt was GM & Director of Strategic Sales at Life Fitness. He also brings extensive experience in project management, sales, and business leadership from his previous tenure at General Electric (GE). He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and briefly served as an Officer in the US Army. Cortlandt and his wife Erica have seven kids, five of whom attend The Field School, and are active members at Chicago West Bible Church.

Mark Bodett

Mark Bodett grew up in the Chicago and Denver areas and has a Liberal Arts degree from Wheaton College and a Structural Engineering degree from the University of Illinois. Mark started his career in engineering and worked on the Washington D.C. Metro system and for the U.S. Department of State. Mark finished his career working twenty-six years in finance as a bond trader in Chicago. Mark and his wife Brenda have three adult children and recently welcomed two grandchildren to the family. Currently, Mark and Brenda attend College Church in Wheaton.

Alex Cueto

Alexandra Cueto was born and raised in Chicago and has spent most of her life in the Little Village community where she currently resides. She came to know Christ at the age of twenty-one while working in a law firm downtown and started attending New Life Community Church, where she served in the Sunday school, the after school program La Semilla, and as a mentor to young men and women for five years. During that time, she also worked for the missions organization ITEAMS and for Lawndale Christian Health Center, where she has served as an accounting clerk, front desk registration rep representative, assistant manager and site manager for seven years. Currently, Alexandra works in the finance department at Lawndale Christian Health Center and cares for her two beautiful young women of God, Teresa and Sara, who are students at The Field School.

Jacqueline Doctor Johnson

Jacqueline Doctor Johnson is an active leader in the Austin neighborhood, where she has lived for 26 years. An accomplished textile artist, Jackie is a board member at Apparel Industry Board, Inc., teaches quality classes at the Austin library, and manages a YouTube channel on sewing, knitting, crocheting, and quilting. Jackie is a member of Resurrected Life Church International, where she serves as a minister, superintendent of children's church, and an intercessory prayer team member. She is a wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

Jeff McCall

Jeff McCall is the President and COO of Turnpoint Services. Turnpoint is one of the nation's largest home services companies with over +7,000 team members across 30 states, and generates +$1.5bln in annual revenue. Prior to his role at Turnpoint, Jeff has held several executive leadership roles across various consumer and healthcare businesses. Jeff received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Economics from Columbia University. He and his wife have three children who attend The Field School.

Adrienne Otkins

Adrienne Otkins, a licensed clinical social worker and mother of three grown daughters, grew up on the West Side of Chicago and has lived in one of Austin’s classic old houses since the early 1990s. A social worker in Chicago Public Schools for thirty years, she began a private practice in November 2021 to create a safe space where teens, adults, and couples can feel supported in their recovery from trauma and maintain their ongoing wellness. Adrienne is a longtime volunteer with community organizations including I Am Able and Mothers House. At Austin’s Third Unitarian Church, she developed and recruited neighborhood youth for as summer program in reading, Bible study, and social skills. Adrienne attends Calvary Memorial Church and is active in Harambee community garden.

Matt Ritsman

Matt Ritsman has worked in the advertising and technology industries in Chicago for over fifteen years as an art director and engineer. He currently works for SpotHero as a software engineer. Matt graduated from Wheaton College with a B.A., double majoring in Visual Art and Interpersonal Communications. Matt is a co-founder and board member of the Shade Partnership Fund, a philanthropic group focused on funding and partnering with nonprofits in the fields of education, children’s development and combating sex trafficking. Matt was part of the founding team that started The Field School. He lives in the Logan Square neighborhood and his children attend The Field School. Matt attends Chicago West Bible Church in the Austin neighborhood.

Lisa Smith

Lisa Smith is Program Head and Assistant Professor in the Elementary Education Program at  Moody Bible Institute. Originally from Louisiana, she taught in her childhood school for many years before entering administration in public and private schools. In the rebuilding of New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina, she joined a grassroots effort to establish a public charter school of quality education for a student body that mirrored the city’s diverse socioeconomic, racial, and cultural backgrounds. As founding lead teacher and International Baccalaureate Curriculum Coordinator, she led the school to become the first authorized IB Primary Years Programme in the state. She last served as the founding High School Director within that IB charter school. She then earned a  Doctorate in Education from Bethel University. Her dissertation was titled, “A Phenomenological Study of An African American Church-Public School Partnership: In Search of Social and Emotional Support.” She values God’s appointed work for her in public and Christian schools by His grace.