Heath Redding
Founder/Head of School
Heath is the Head of School at OZ and the epitome of a lifelong learner.
From the time he could pick up a guitar and well into his 20’s he was convinced he would be a rockstar. Heath played music, attended Texas State University and studied Geography, and later crossed over into film production.
For the last decade, Heath has ran a successful lighting business in Northwest Arkansas. He enjoys anything in the digital space, technology, AI, playing the guitar, basketball, carpentry, welding, and riding e-bikes with his children around Northwest Arkansas.
At OZ, Heath handles socratic launches, administrative work, all things tech, curriculum building, and ultimately brings the fun to every day!
"You can grow ideas...in the garden of your mind" - Mr. Rogers.
Nicole Redding
Founder/Lead Guide
Nicole is the Lead Guide at OZ and believes the Acton model is marrying her life's two greatest passions: homeschooling and business! Before finding the Acton model, Nicole homeschooled her children for 6 years.
Nicole graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Architecture and worked professionally in the field for many years. She has also ran a mobile food truck and pastry business and now helps her husband Heath run their businesses together.
Nicole enjoys working out, basketball, making healthy and delicious meals, chickens, gardening, and learning Spanish.
At OZ, Nicole handles socratic launches, leads a studio, trains guides, builds curriculum, and enjoys learning to wait patiently while learners struggle to solve their own problems.
"I dwell in possibility" - Emily Dickinson
Jeff Sandefer
Co-Founder Acton Academy
Jeff Sandefer lives a dual life as an entrepreneur and a Socratic Guide.
As an entrepreneur, he founded his first company at age 16 and went on to found or co-found seven successful businesses. As a Socratic teacher at the University of Texas, Jeff’s students five times voted him the school’s Outstanding Teacher and Businessweek named him one of the top Entrepreneurship professors in America.
Jeff went on to co-found the Acton School of Business, an MBA program perennially ranked by the Princeton Review among the best in the nation. In 2012 The Economist honored him as one of the top fifteen Business School professors in the world
Jeff is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, where he served for over twenty years on the school’s governing committees. He was a longtime director of the Philanthropy Roundtable and National Review magazine and one of the youngest members ever elected to the Texas Business Hall of Fame.
Laura Sandefer
Co-Founder Acton Academy
Laura lived on both US coasts and in between as a child, then settled into Vanderbilt University for her undergraduate studies in the College of Arts and Science.
After being awarded the highly competitive Walter Wattles Fellowship at Lloyd’s of London, Laura worked in the aviation insurance industry in New York City.
Deciding to follow her calling into the world of education, Laura returned to Nashville and earned her Master of Education at Peabody College. This led her to her work at the Oklahoma Arts Institute, creating fine arts education programs for teachers and talented high school students.
Laura married Jeff Sandefer and is the happy mother of Sam and Charlie and step-mother to Taite. It is the inspiration of these children that led Laura and Jeff to co-found Acton Academy.
Her greatest hero is her mother who was a Master Teacher. Her wisest mentor is her father who sent her off to college with two words of advice: "Be curious."