Senior Leadership

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Kati Haycock, President 

One of the nation’s leading advocates in the field of education, Kati Haycock founded The Education Trust to promote the high academic achievement of all students, pre-kindergarten through college. In particular, the organization seeks to close the gaps in opportunity and achievement that consign too many low-income students and students of color to lives on the margins of the American mainstream.

Before leading Ed Trust, Kati served as executive vice president of the Children's Defense Fund, the nation's largest child advocacy organization. Earlier, she was founding president of The Achievement Council, a California organization that assisted teachers and principals at predominantly minority schools in improving student achievement. She also served as director of outreach and student affirmative action programs for the nine-campus University of California system.

Kati speaks about educational improvement before thousands of educators, community and business leaders, and policymakers each year. A native Californian, she has received numerous awards for her service to our nation’s youth, and serves as a director on several education-related boards, including those of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, The New Teacher Project, and the Hunt Institute.

Amber Arellano, Executive Director, The Education Trust-Midwest

Amber Arellano has worked for more than two decades in journalism, public policy, and strategic public relations. Most recently, she was a columnist and editorial board writer for The Detroit News, where she used the News' online platform of more than 1.2 million visitors a month to advocate for low-income and urban students. In 2009, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists named her Commentator of the Year. Throughout her career, she has covered immigration, politics, and education in the Midwest, Southern California, and Mexico, and won national awards for race relations reporting at the Detroit Free Press. Her work has spanned the corporate, governmental, and non-profit sectors in the United States and abroad.

Amber holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy, where she specialized in poverty and employment policy. She earned her bachelor's degree in secondary education and journalism from Michigan State University, and studied at the Universidad de Guanajuato in Mexico. A Michigan native, she is the first in her family to go to college. She is passionate about ensuring all Michigan kids have access to great public schools and a shot at their own American dream. 

Ericka Miller, Vice President for Operations and Strategic Leadership

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. 

Arun Ramanathan, Executive Director, The Education Trust-West

Dr. Arun Ramanathan began his career in education as a Volunteer in Service to America in rural Appalachia. As a child advocate, he has worked in both public and non-public school settings serving children with severe disabilities, emotional disturbance, as well as victims of physical and sexual abuse. Arun has been a teacher and paraprofessional in New England and California, and has also worked in large urban school districts as a research director, executive director of government relations, and special assistant to the superintendent.  He most recently served as a chief student services officer in San Diego Unified with responsibility for ten departments and a budget of $350 million. His family immigrated to the United States in 1976 and he began his schooling as an English learner. He received his doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Administration, Policy and Social Planning. He is married to Ms. Indelisa Carrillo, a teacher and reading specialist, and they have two daughters.