After more than 20 years, using workshops, institutes, television, and on-line-technology, Mike Rutherford is at the forefront of educator development across the United States.  Formerly a high school chemistry teacher, coach, and middle school principal, Mike received his BA in Education from Indiana State University, his MA in Educational Leadership from the University of North Carolina, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Leadership and Human Development at the University of Wyoming.

Mike Rutherford decided to become a teacher during a high school chemistry course.  Showing cool experiments to wide-eyed teens was something he felt he could do for the rest of his life—a genuine calling.  While working for a BA in education and obtaining his teaching certificate at Indiana State University, Mike honed his leadership skills as a quarterback and defensive back for the Sycamores.

After teaching high-school chemistry for a few years, he decided to learn more about the nuts and bolts of how schools could be more effective. He became an assistant principal at Westover High School in Fayetteville, NC and earned a MA in school administration from various schools in the UNC system, he then moved back to Seventy-First High School, where he began as a teacher, as associate principal and athletic director.  Mike accepted his first principalship at Lewis Chapel Junior High School in Fayetteville and later became principal at Hillcrest Middle School, also in Cumberland County, NC.

Mike was fortunate to be offered a position of executive director at the noted Mayerson Academy in Cincinnati, OH, which specializes in a broad range of educator development programs. This afforded him the opportunity to learn from some of the country’s education experts in a facility designed from the ground up to be at the leading edge of learning and teaching theory.  He has completed all course work for a PhD in Leadership and Human Development from the University of Wyoming.  His dissertation is forthcoming.

At the Mayerson Academy, Mike co-designed, with colleague Dr. Larry Rowedder, the “Requisites of A Leader” program to teach school principals essential leadership skills required of their position. ROL began as a seminar workshop, but grew into a bi-monthly 90 minute interactive distance-learning television program with scores of subscribing institutions around the world. For teachers, he developed “Creating The Learning Centered School.” LCS presents 18 essential capacities that teachers must know so their work will mesh with the psychological and physical realities of how humans learn.

“Requisites of A Leader” and “Creating The Learning Centered School” are the foundations for Mike’s work as an education authority for hundreds of schools and systems across the country.  He recently created a youth leadership program used in scores of high schools, “LeaderNext.” These programs and more unite under the umbrella of Rutherford Learning Group.  RLG designs and leads “best of class” development experiences for educators.  Methodologies include live workshops, seminars, institutes, correlated DVD series, a content-rich Internet site, and workbooks and other innovative products. A select group of educators with specific skill sets augments RLG’s efforts to enhance and grow the teaching and learning capacity of schools, with proven products and methods.

Mike currently resides in Charlotte, NC with his wife, Danette, and their four children, Michael, Allison, Emily, and Bennett.