Leadership

Rhea M. LeGrande leads her team and initiatives to enhance literacy and educational outcomes for children in the Kansas City area. With a robust background in educational leadership, Rhea is dedicated to making a more beautiful world for us all, one reader at a time.

Prior to her current role, Rhea served as a Senior Consultant at Education First and the Founder and CEO of LeGrande Solutions, providing strategic consulting and change management guidance to a variety of social impact organizations. Her leadership experience includes a pivotal tenure at Teach for America as Senior Chief Program Officer, where she optimized program impact, coached multi-level teams, and managed substantial budgets. She was also a founding member of the Educator Academy.

Rhea is currently pursuing a PhD in Education with a focus on Curriculum and Instruction at Kansas State University. She also holds advanced degrees in Secondary Education and Philosophy.

Having struggled to become a reader early on, Rhea now loves reading across every genre to learn more about the world, fall in love with a new character, get lost in a new world. Outside of work, you can catch her and her husband, her high school sweetheart, cheering on their three children in all they do.

Matt Foster has been with Lead to Read since 2023, serving as administrator for accounting and budgeting, human resources, donor database management, and serves on the board’s Internal Affairs Committee and as staff liaison to the Associate Board. He also enjoys mentoring students during reading sessions at Gordon Parks Elementary. Matt has worked in non-profit operations and administration leadership positions since 2014 and holds degrees from the University of Missouri Kansas City and Missouri State University.

Outside of his work at Lead to Read KC, Matt can be found attending any kind of concert or hanging out at his home in KC’s Waldo neighborhood with his husband Nate and their corgi, Ren.

Linda Hughes is a lifelong educator whose experience includes teaching and leading in public and private kindergarten – twelfth grade settings in Columbia, Missouri and Kansas City. Prior to joining Lead to Read KC, Linda served as the assistant principal and instructional coach at Visitation Catholic School and an adjunct professor at Rockhurst University. Linda has a passion for literacy and supporting families as the primary educators of their children.

Linda is an avid reader, literacy advocate and loves the opportunity to help foster a love of reading in others. In her free time, Linda enjoys playing board games with her husband and three teenagers, and of course, reading!

Bev Leonard has more than 40 years of experience in public and charter school education. She has been a classroom teacher, a Reading Specialist, an Elementary Principal and a Secondary Principal. As a lifelong educator, Bev values the importance and need for all students to be strong readers. Her goal is to ensure all students in Kansas City have this opportunity. Her expertise is in leadership and instructional knowledge.

Bev holds an education degree from Missouri State University, an educational specialist degree in administration from Central Missouri State University and a master’s degree, Reading Specialist from Drury College.

For more than 25 years, Hayley Walker Rees has been coordinating and managing volunteers. Before joining the Lead to Read KC team in 2016, she worked for Habitat for Humanity KC Restore, YouthFriends and Mattie Rhodes. Hayley graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Humanities from the University of Texas. She loves getting to know people and finding out what they are passionate about, then connecting them with a worthy cause.

Hayley and her husband have brought an 1883 house on the Westside back from the demolition list. She enjoys friends, gardening, painting, and reading. In the last few years, she has been exploring cooking new interesting, healthy recipes.

Allison White oversees the Reading Mentoring program in Lead to Read KC’s dozens of partner schools – a logistical feat she manages through relationship building with the help of Site Coordinators, extensive problem solving skills, and a mastery of spreadsheets. Prior to joining the organization in 2019, she spent more than 25 years in nonprofit management and convention planning with national trade associations as well as corporate meeting planning.

Allison is a lifelong supporter of women’s sports and has turned into a true soccer fan after raising two soccer players. Allison has two grown children and in her free time enjoys running, gardening, reading, and baking.