Now in his 25th year as a school administrator, Dr. Wheeler is in his 12th year as principal of Atlee High School (AHS). Dr. Wheeler was named principal of AHS by the Hanover County School Board on April 8, 2014, and began his tenure on July 1, 2014.
Under Dr. Wheeler's leadership, Atlee has seen enormous success both in and out of the classroom, capturing 16 of its 22 state championship since July 2014, has seen its band program earn Virginia Honor Band distinction every since 2010, and had both a Milken Educator Award recipient (Travis Dodds) and the Virginia Teacher of the Year in 2023–2024 school year (Avanti Yamamoto).
In 2024, Atlee High School was named the recipient of Exemplary Performance Award for Continuous Improvement by the Virginia Department of Education for demonstrating an increase in the combined rate for two or more student groups in reading and math for three consecutive years with a total increase across the three years of ten points or more. In the fall of 2025, Atlee received the "Distinguished" designation in the Virginia Department of Education School Performance and Support Framework Performance Category.
From 2010 to 2014, he was the principal of Cedar Ridge High School (CRHS) in Hillsborough, North Carolina after serving as an assistant principal of CRHS from 2004 to 2010. Under his leadership from 2010 to 2014, CRHS saw extraordinary success, achieving some of the highest graduation cohort rates and proficiency rates on end-of-course tests in school history. During his tenure, the athletics program also reached unprecedented heights, capturing multiple conference championships, two team state championships, and six individual state championships. CRHS was also named a North Carolina School of Excellence or School of Distinction multiple times during his tenure, all while reducing suspension rates from 2010 to 2014. From 2001 until 2004, Dr. Wheeler served as the assistant principal of Colonial Heights Middle School in Colonial Heights after beginning his career in the York County School Division as a teacher and coach. He completed a site-based administrative internship while working for the Henrico County Public Schools in 2000, as well as a central office internship with the Orange County Schools (NC) in 2008.
Dr. Wheeler has a bachelor’s degree in education from East Carolina University, a master’s degree in educational leadership from the College of William & Mary, and a doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Wheeler holds certification as division superintendent; assistant superintendent for instruction; and administration and supervision, pre-k–12 in the state of Virginia. In 2009, he received the Patrick W. and Janet R. Carlton Award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for dissertation research.
Dr. Wheeler is active in several professional associations, including the American Educational Research Association, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the School Superintendents Association (ASSA), the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals, and Phi Delta Kappa.
Dr. Wheeler was named the 2015 Administrator of the Year by the Virginia Association of School Librarians, was an Hanover County Public School Honored Educator in 2023 and 2024, and was the Hanover County Public Schools R.E.B. Award for Distinguished Educational Leadership Finalist in 2020. He was an adjunct professor in the College of Education at James Madison University from 2017–2020.
Dr. Wheeler resides in Mechanicsville with his wife, Jennifer (5th grade teacher at Cool Spring Elementary School), and their three sons, Michael (8th grade at Chickahominy Middle School), Ryan (7th grade at Chickahominy Middle School), and David (1st grade at Washington-Henry Elementary School).