Garry Davis is a Principal Technical Assistance Consultant at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and serves as the Deputy Director of State Strategy and Innovation. Davis manages and supports technical assistance and research projects and teams, designing and providing technical assistance to local, state, federal, and foundation clients to improve system outcomes; and leading work focused on postsecondary success, early warning systems, social emotional learning, and implementation science and change facilitation using models such as the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). Davis also serves as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) liaison for the Education Systems and Policy (ESP) program area within AIR, where he leads, coaches, and supports ESP staff to incorporate Cultural Linguistic Competence and DEI actions and measures into program infrastructure and projects. He has extensive experience in project leadership; CBAM as a change facilitation method; identifying and providing tailored technical assistance to address identified client needs and outcomes; and participatory facilitation and decision-making.
Previously, Davis was partnership facilitation lead with the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) under the Regional Education Laboratories, supporting ADE’s college and career readiness efforts; the professional learning and implementation lead supporting a Florida and Illinois school district to develop a systemic way to undertake change initiatives, and to implement SEL across the district; a project lead for multiple projects on the federally funded Texas Comprehensive Center (TXCC) where he designed and delivered technical assistance services related to designing, implementing and scaling state education agency programs and strategies in prioritized areas including rural education, Communities in Schools, special education, bilingual education, work-based learning, expanded learning time, college and career readiness, career and technical education, teacher mentoring, and educator professional development. Davis holds a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Policy at the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Texas at Austin.