Ray Ankrum is currently the superintendent of Riverhead Charter School located on Long Island, New York. Ray is a firm believer that education can be the catalyst to eradicate generational poverty. Since working in the Baltimore City Public School system and transitioning into the charter school world, he has served students in the position of dean of students at Democracy Prep Public Charter School and as principal at Harlem Village Academies. Ray is currently in advanced candidacy for his doctorate at Manhattanville College, where he is set to defend his doctoral dissertation in August 2022. The title of Ray’s doctoral proposal is “Parent Engagement in Urban Charter Schools, Through the Lens of Black Male School Leaders.” Ray is also an alumnus of the Summer Principals Academy, 2009 Cohort.