Education Trust Staff

A founding partner of Ed Trust in 1993, Stephanie worked with school boards, administrators, principals, teachers, and communities to implement policies and practices aimed at improving teaching and learning. She helped create the Standards-in-Practice professional development initiative that encouraged standards-based education in districts across the nation as well as Ed Trust’s National Center for Transforming School Counseling. Stephanie was a teacher and administrator in the Montclair, N.J., schools, education director for the National Urban League, and deputy superintendent of the Kansas City, Mo., schools. A graduate of Douglass College, she received a master’s in social work from Rutgers University and a doctorate in human growth and development/school administration from the Union Institute.

Richard is former director of the Institute for Urban School Improvement at the University of Connecticut and was on faculty in the Department of Education Leadership, where he directed and taught within the doctoral program. He worked with the Connecticut Center for School Change and the Fairfield County Community Foundation, in collaboration with urban districts, to design and teach within the Urban School Leaders Fellowship, an initiative to enhance leadership capacity within urban districts. He previously was associate director of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. A former high school teacher, Richard has led summer programs for at-risk youth and served as a change coach for urban high schools. He received a bachelor's in political science from North Carolina State University and master's and doctorates in administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard University.

Ellyn has focused her career on eliminating system-driven inequalities for children and youth. At Ed Trust, she is closely involved in the leadership and system-change work of the Access to Success Initiative. Ellyn previously worked with the Casey Strategic Consulting Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, where she supported state and local government leadership teams in planning and overseeing their reform efforts. She began her career at Abt Associates, evaluating national youth-development programs. Ellyn holds a bachelor’s from Barnard College and a master’s in public affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of International & Public Affairs.

Karin is a longtime reporter and education writer who has written for such publications as American Educator, American Teacher, and Education Week, as well as the Washington Post, where for five years she wrote a weekly column on schools and education. Prior to that she was senior writer and executive editor of Black Issues In Higher Education (now Diverse). Karin is author of How It’s Being Done: Urgent Lessons from Unexpected Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2009), which details how eight high-poverty and high-minority schools have achieved academic success, and It’s Being Done: Academic Success in Unexpected Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2007). Karin is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Before joining the Education Trust, Karen was a principal in Washington, D.C. She worked in the Montgomery County schools for 13 years as an assistant principal, school counselor, and central office instructional specialist. Karen has supervised high school counseling departments and worked with school counselors and teachers on understanding how to use data to inform instruction. She holds a bachelor’s in English from Howard University and a master’s in school counseling and a doctorate in educational leadership from Bowie State University in Maryland. In 2005, she received the dean’s dissertation of the year award for research on teacher perceptions of professional development activities.

Before joining the Ed Trust policy team, Anna worked as a research assistant on an early education reading project and interned for the Tennessee Department of Education. At Ed Trust, Anna analyzes NAEP and high school graduation-rate data. She also analyzes the use of assessment data to identify high-performing high-poverty and high-minority schools. Anna holds a bachelor’s in Spanish and a master's in education policy, both from Vanderbilt University.

Brooke has been crafting and performing issues-focused theater with The Education Trust for nearly a decade. A former high school dropout from an urban public school system, Brooke now spends most of her time back in schools with students and educators, listening to their experiences of equity in education. Inspired by the work of documentarians Studs Terkel and Anna Deavere Smith, Brooke mixes interview with performance to produce incisive chronicles of opportunity and achievement in America. She holds a bachelor's from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a master's from Johns Hopkins University. 

Allison joined Ed Trust after earning a master’s in public policy from Duke University. While attending graduate school, she consulted on topics such as teacher effectiveness and interned at the New York City Department of Education’s Office of Early Childhood Education. She previously worked as a research assistant at Child Trends, where she participated in research and evaluative projects related to fatherhood and parenting. Allison holds a bachelor’s degree in government and history from Georgetown University.

Natasha joined The Education Trust after completing a master’s in education policy and management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Before graduate school, she spent three years as a research assistant and associate analyst at Abt Associates, a research and consulting firm.  At Abt, Natasha worked on a variety of research and analysis projects, including economic analyses of environmental regulations and market studies. She holds a bachelor’s in economics and Spanish language and literature from Brandeis University.

An experienced political and community organizer with a special skill in media communications, Amy’s sharp advocacy skills were honed over years of successful work for the Children’s Defense Fund, the Democratic National Committee, the Peace Corps, and the White House Office of Media Affairs.

Prior to joining the Ed Trust, Lisa was a personal assistant and cook to the CEO of a health and wellness company. Prior to that, Lisa provided administrative assistance to a variety of organizations in various industries for more than 15 years.

Dan was vice president for publications and editor of Trusteeship magazine for the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges for 20 years. At AGB, Dan developed more than 100 books, public-policy papers, and reports on higher education governance and trusteeship. He previously was editor of Campaigns & Elections, a magazine for political candidates and consultants. As associate editor of the American School Board Journal and Executive Educator magazines, published by the National School Boards Association, Dan’s feature articles won five National Education Reporting Awards from the Education Writers Association. He is a graduate of Boston University.

Dan Miller joined Ed Trust to grow the organization’s online outreach and mobilize its supporters. He previously served as the external affairs manager at the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, where he expanded the organization’s online presence through e-mail, social media, and the relaunch of the blog GayPolitics.com. Dan was a reporter for four years for County News, a publication of the National Association of Counties. He contributes arts reporting to the Washington Post and the Washington Post Express. He holds a bachelor’s in English from the College of William and Mary.

Lauren joined The Education Trust after completing her master’s in public communication at American University in June 2009. She previously held positions at Weber Shandwick, an international public-relations firm, and Edelman Public Relations, the world’s largest independent public-relations firm.  Lauren has a bachelor’s in journalism from Howard University.

Ericka was vice president and director of the national executive search firm Isaacson, Miller, where she led the firm’s K-12 education practice. She previously was president and chief operating officer of The McKenzie Group, an education consulting firm that provided evaluation and technical assistance services to school districts, federal agencies, foundations, and other organizations. Ericka also served as a legislative assistant for education to former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey and taught at Mills College, in Oakland, Calif. Ericka holds a bachelor’s from Georgetown University and a doctorate from Stanford University. She is a member of Leadership Washington’s Class of 2004.

Andrea was regional operations manager for the Washington, D.C., office of Isaacson, Miller, an executive search firm. She previously was the office manager for the law firm Brown & Gould and assistant to the MBA Admissions Department at A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. Andrea is a Tulane graduate and holds a Professional in Human Resources certification.

Karen comes to The Education Trust with a substantial and successful career in administration and advocacy. Her previous positions include meeting and trade show coordinator for the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers and secretary for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Karen also was an office assistant for AFSCME and the International Monetary Fund. 

Josefina Velasco has more than ten years experience as a meeting planner in the Washington, D.C., area. Josefina previously was a meetings planner for the National Association for Bilingual Education and as well as an event planner for the White House Millennium Council for the former first lady and current Secretary of State, the Honorable Hillary Clinton. She attended the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of California at Santa Cruz.