Dr. Ingrid M. Canady
Executive Director
Dr. Ingrid M. Canady is the leader of both an agency and a movement. Since joining SERC as a member of the consulting team more than 22 years ago, she became passionately engaged in the agency’s intentional and strategic journey on examining the hidden realities of institutionalized racism and its impact in today’s classrooms. Through the years as SERC’s Workforce Development Coordinator, Assistant Director, Associate Director, and Interim Executive Director, Ingrid demonstrated the importance of culturally conscious leadership to promote learning environments where all children are seen and heard. From the time the SERC Board of Directors unanimously voted her permanent Executive Director in 2016, Ingrid became the face of SERC’s mission to ensure an equitable and accessible education for all of Connecticut’s students.
Over the years, Ingrid has become a catalytic force in communicating the message on the critical need for these equitable learning environments and is sought after as a facilitator, presenter and speaker on the topic locally and nationally. Her numerous accolades include receiving the Courageous Conversation’s Asa G. Hilliard Award for Outstanding Achievement in Racial Equity, the CT Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents’ Equity Champion Award, CT Parent Power’s Educational Equity Leadership Hero Award, YWCA New Britain Women in Leadership Award, and being inducted into the Carol R. Virostek Academy of Women Leaders, among many others.
Ingrid migrated to the United States from Costa Rica in 1989 and became a U.S. citizen in 1997. Her educational journey began as a Head Start educator in the City of Waterbury, and she graduated from Northwestern Connecticut Community College with an associate’s degree in early childhood education. She earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and sixth-year Educational Leadership degree from Central Connecticut State University and her doctoral degree in Leadership and Learning in Organizations from Vanderbilt University: Peabody College. Ingrid is an avid long-distance runner, enjoys weekends at home with her husband Kevin, and, as often as possible, traveling to visit their grandchildren Kai and Ava.
