Please contact Ilisha Terez-Evans for issues concerning the REI Department.

Dr. Kermit Gilliard, Jr. is a native of Grady County. He is a 1985 graduate of Cairo High School, 1989 graduate of Valdosta State College with a Bachelor’s degree in Special Education. Dr. Gilliard received his Master’s degree from Georgia State University in Special Education with a concentration in Severe and Profound Disabilities in 1992. He returned to Valdosta State University for his doctoral studies in Education Leadership and graduated in 2010. Dr. Gilliard is beginning his 33rd year as a Public School Educator; he taught three years in Gwinnett County at North Gwinnett High School and 29.5 years in the Grady County School System; two years as a teacher, 12 years as Director of Special Education, three years as Eastside Elementary School principal, four years as Washington Middle School principal and two years as Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Leadership. In September of 2014, he was named Interim Principal of Cairo High School while maintaining his duties as Assistant Superintendent. On July 1, 2015, he became the Superintendent of the Grady County School System. Dr. Gilliard retired October 30, 2021 and began work with the Georgia Department of Education as the Senior Program Manager of REI on November 1, 2021. He and his wife Cristie have two children, Anna, a Senior Mechanical Engineering student at Florida State University and Owen, a welding student at Southern Regional Technical College in Thomasville.

Dr. Gary C. Wenzel has served in School Improvement at the Georgia Department of Education for over twenty years, managing Title I-A 1003 (a) grants to schools with School Improvement Set Aside grants to RESA, as well as State Science Coordinator and leading 21st Century Community Learning Centers. Dr. Wenzel assisted in developing a RESA Aspiring Leaders Program.

Dr. Wenzel was a high school English/Drama Teacher, Secondary and Elementary Principal, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of West Georgia in the 1990s, teaching School Finance, Educational Facilities and the Superintendency, which is why he is well known throughout the state by district superintendents, principals, federal program and curriculum directors, and RESA Finance Directors and RESA Executive Directors.

​Dr. Wenzel has a Masters in English and Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Penn State University, and has worked closely with Georgia Public Broadcasting in producing educational videos, stemming from his graduate studies in film and theater at NYU and UCLA.

​Dr. Wenzel began working with Randolph, Stewart, and Quitman County Schools in 1999, where he first recognized the importance of technical assistance for rural districts—thus, his new role as Partnerships and Operations Specialist for the Office of Rural Education and Innovation is a dream come true!​

Russell Paine is the Technology Specialist for the Rural Education and Innovation Department (REI). Before joining GaDOE, he was the Technology Director and Instructional Technology Specialist at Southwest Georgia RESA for five years where he served 15 school systems, most of which are rural districts. While at RESA Russell created the website www.swresa.org, the SLDS Ambassador Cohort and the Google Teach from Home Courses. These courses were vital for the encouragement and training of Teachers, Principals, and Superintendents in how to implement technology from home during the Pandemic. He also taught the Substitute Teacher training courses along with various Instructional Technology classes. 

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Lee University, a Master’s in Middle Grades Education, Math and Social Studies, from Albany State University, and a Specialist Degree from Georgia Southwestern State University. He earned several teaching endorsements, such as, Gifted, Reading, ESOL and many technology certifications including, Google, Microsoft, Edpuzzle, Nearpod, Peardeck, etc.

He previously taught ESOL, Spanish, and the Migrant Summer Camp in Albany, begining January 2003 at Merry Acres Middle School and traveled throughout Dougherty County translating and providing ESOL services throughout the K-12 Schools. Prior to teaching, he served our country as an U.S. Army Paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. He and his wife Katie, of 28 years, have four children, three grandchildren, and are serving their​ community and church as Youth Leaders. ​