Ray Pinder is “home-grown.” He graduated from Hernando High School in 1987 and has worked with the Hernando School District for more than 33 years in a variety of roles including as a teacher, administrator, director of human resources and executive director before assuming his most recent position as superintendent. He received his bachelor’s degree in social science education from the University of South Florida, and his master’s degree in educational leadership from Saint Leo University. He taught dropout prevention, math and science from 1993 through 2002. He moved into school administration serving as an assistant principal at West Hernando Middle School for four years; then served as principal at Fox Chapel Middle, Explorer K8 and J.D. Floyd from 2006-2019. In 2019, he became director of human resources and served as executive director of business services. He was named assistant superintendent in 2023 and superintendent in 2024.