Cathi Davis is the 2025 Washington State Elementary Principal of the Year and a National Distinguished Principal in the United States. Cathi is the founding principal of Ruby Bridges Elementary, a fully inclusive school in Washington State known nationally and internationally for its groundbreaking work as an inclusive learning community where all students attend and engage in general education together in universally designed and student-centered learning spaces. Cathi has spent the last twenty-five years working in education including fifteen years as a school principal. Cathi collaborates with educators, leaders and policy makers at the state, national and international level to support inclusive public education through professional development, advocacy and collaborative learning.

While originally from the east coast, where she grew up and earned her teaching certificates and Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, Cathi now lives in Washington State with her wonderful family. She earned her M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, K-12 Principal Certificate and K-12 Superintendent Certificate in the wonderful state of Washington. She is currently writing her doctoral dissertation connected to inclusive leadership, system change through disability justice lens.

Cathi is a dreamer, a leader, a disrupter, and a relentless advocate for dismantling barriers in both mindsets and systems to create schools that belong to all of us.