Dr. Susan Homes has served as Deputy Executive Director for the Illinois Principals Association since 2017. Before joining the IPA team, she devoted 34 years of her career to the field of education, beginning as a business and marketing teacher at Nathan Hale High School in West Allis, Wisconsin. She went on to teach at the post-secondary level for the next thirteen years before being named the first Director of Technology for the Collinsville Community Unit School District in Illinois. She was promoted to Assistant Superintendent for the district and served in that role for five years before being named Superintendent for the Smithton Community Consolidated School District in 2013.

Homes has received numerous awards over the years including the Extraordinary Leaders Impacting Today’s Environment (E.L.I.T.E.) Award, the Illinois Computing Educators’ Technology Educator of the Year, the Illinois nominee for the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) Technology Educator of the Year, the Illinois Salute to Education Award, the Superintendent's Quality and Excellence Award, an Illinois State Board of Education Those Who Excel Award, and the International LERN Award for Business/Industry Training and Innovation.

Homes is an educational optimist who believes that lives are truly touched, and the future shaped, by extraordinary teachers. She has authored or co-authored grants exceeding $25 million at both the state and federal level. She has been a frequent speaker at both the regional, state, and national level, an architect of the Women in Education: Leading and Learning Summit, a member of numerous professional organizations, and an educational consultant. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, her master’s degree at Northern Illinois University, her superintendent endorsement at Western Illinois University, and her doctorate degree at Saint Louis University. She and her husband, Dan, have been married since 1983, have two grown sons, and two grandchildren.