Candidate: Nathalie Ingrid Lynch-Walsh

Dr. Nathalie Lynch-Walsh is a candidate for School Board of Broward County, District 5.

Born to an English mother and Trinidadian father and raised in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Dr. Lynch-Walsh grew up immersed in cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity. At sixteen she challenged the local Board of Education when it ruled she would need to start high school over—not because of her placement exam score—but because she had not attended 9th grade, and her 10th grade school was unaccredited. Nathalie left high school after three months and began working full time. She was awarded a GED in 1987, winning an award for the highest scores in the territory that year. After the island was devasted by Hurricane Hugo, she moved to Colorado, earning a Bachelor's degree in accounting from Ft. Lewis College in Durango in 1995.  Missing the connection to the ocean, Dr. Lynch-Walsh soon moved to Florida, where her skills and hard work resulted in a swift and steady rise through the corporate accounting ranks from Staff Accountant to Assistant Controller--while completing an MBA at FAU and passing the CPA exam.

Women with personality traits that fail to conform to societal stereotypes tend to be subjected to workplace gender discrimination. Noticing she was treated differently than male managers by some female subordinates, Dr. Lynch-Walsh decided to look for answers by enrolling in Lynn University's Global Leadership program, specializing in Corporate and Organizational Management. She spent the next six years working on her doctorate, switching her career to teaching. Her dissertation, Sex-Role Orientation, Women as Managers, and Transformational Leadership Among Female Law Firm Partners and Subordinates examined how factors such as beliefs about the equality of men and women influenced how female subordinates evaluated the leadership ability of female law firm partners. Following the completion of her degree in 2006, Dr. Lynch-Walsh continued teaching until her oldest daughter started kindergarten in 2010.

A desire to learn more about the system that would be educating her children led to attending her first School Advisory Council (SAC) and School Advisory Forum (SAF) meetings. Her volunteerism began as a SAF chair, leading to positions on the Central Area and District Advisory Councils. But it was becoming the Plantation Innovation Zone representative to the District’s Facilities Task Force that would transform volunteerism into a vocation. The Facilities Task Force, created after a 1980s failed bond program and revived in the wake of the 1997 Grand Jury, is designed to help School Board members avoid facilities-related waste and mismanagement by providing advice from a community-based group of parents, industry experts, and civic leaders.

Elected five times as the Chair of the Facilities Task Force, in 2014 Dr. Lynch-Walsh advised the School Board against rushing the SMART Bond to the 2014 ballot, imploring them to follow best practices by developing a long-term plan. Today, the $800 million in SMART Bond projects are estimated at $1.5 million, and completion dates extend into the 2025-26 school year.

Nathalie has also served on the District’s Audit Committee since 2015, where she has been a tenacious advocate for accountability—most recently in ensuring 2018 Referendum funds were spent appropriately and behavioral threat assessments complied with State requirements.

Dr. Lynch-Walsh believes we need a School Board committed to doing the work it takes to build a better district for our children and ensuring the Superintendent and all staff do the same. She is committed to helping ALL students reach their potential by ensuring equitable allocation of resources needed to create safe, well-maintained schools, reverse pandemic learning losses, and increase academic achievement. If elected, Dr. Lynch-Walsh will lead by example to build an organizational culture based on the highest ethical standards, transparency, and integrity, and create an environment where community concerns and constructive criticism are a welcome part of the continuous improvement process.