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.

Marni comes to Ed Trust with a background in teaching and public policy. After joining Teach for America in 2006, she taught second grade for three years in Atlanta. She then earned a master’s degree in public policy at American University, with a focus in social policy. While at American, she served as a teaching assistant for the School of Public Affairs Leadership Program, which allows students to design and execute community action projects. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in American studies from Cornell University.
 

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.

Brooke has been crafting and performing issues-focused theater with The Education Trust for more than 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.

Christina worked in the research and evaluation office of the Alexandria (Virginia) Public Schools. She trained principals and teachers on how to understand and use data to make instructional decisions and guide school reform efforts. She also evaluated the schools’ adolescent literacy initiative and worked with the city to conduct a youth assets and risks survey that guided implementation of a youth development plan. Christina also has worked as a therapist and did program and policy development at a special education school in Massachusetts. She has a doctorate from Tufts University, where her research focused on understanding what characteristics of families, schools, and communities promote positive development. Christina is on the editorial board of Developmental Psychology. 

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.

José leads the higher education policy and practice work at The Education Trust.  He oversees the national Access to Success Initiative (20 public university systems) and has recently been involved in separate efforts to regulate the for-profit college industry and to save the Federal Pell Grant Program.  José is former vice president for student affairs of the University of Puerto Rico System (UPR), where he oversaw admissions, financial aid, and student-life programs. He also served as UPR’s executive director for strategic planning and cofounded Puerto Rico’s K-16 Council. He previously served as professor and chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and as dean of academic affairs of the UPR Mayagüez campus, where he led several research projects with significant K-12 STEM student outreach and teacher training components. He earned a doctorate in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and he has published extensively in international scientific journals and for technical conferences. A senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, he received the National Science Foundation Career Award.  Active in industry, José is a patented inventor.

Mary Beth joined The Education Trust after earning a doctorate in higher education from the University of Virginia, where she served on the administrative team at the School of Nursing. She also holds degrees in English and journalism, and has worked as a magazine and newspaper writer as well as a speech writer in the U.S. Senate. Mary Beth collaborates with the Ed Trust’s campus partners to advance the Access to Success Initiative and to create new learning opportunities around successful gap-closing practices.

Griselda joined the Ed Trust shortly after she graduated in May 2008 from Carroll University with a bachelor’s degree in Communications, Public Relations.  During college she became involved as a mentor in a College Readiness Program that helped Milwaukee’s minority and low-income public high school students become college ready.  At Ed Trust Griselda helps manage the Access to Success Initiative, an initiative composed of 24 university systems with the goal of cutting their access and success gaps in half by 2015.

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.

Rima is currently developing the Ed Trust's bilingual blog, “Cerrando Brechas/Closing Gaps," designed for parents, caregivers, and communities. Before joining us, Rima served as associate professor of social sciences at the University of Puerto Rico, where she also cofounded and directed the Center for University Access. Her recent research, writing, teaching, and advocacy work integrates ethnography, action research, life-history interviews, and other methods to discern the relationship among social inequality, geography, and access to public higher education. Rima holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez and master’s and doctoral degrees in cultural anthropology from Cornell University.

Ebony Daughtry graduated from Strayer University with an associate’s degree in business administration. Before coming to The Education Trust, Ebony was the office coordinator at National Academy for State Health Policy. In this role, she oversaw the academy’s day-to-day office activities, maintaining the COO/CFO calendar, working with all vendors, securing estimates for three renovations, and ordering office supplies.

Over the years, Cheryl has used her communications expertise as a lever for advancing social justice. Her work as a strategic communications consultant, journalist, and weekly podcast producer-host has given voice to the voiceless, influenced public policy, and challenged the status quo on pivotal issues such as educational equity (race, class, and gender), racial justice, immigration reform, and responsible fatherhood. Cheryl comes to The Education Trust from Langhum Mitchell Communications, where she was co-owner and executive vice president. A former fellow of the Poynter Institute of Media Studies, she holds a bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College and a master’s in print journalism from the University of Southern California.  

Prior to joining the Education Trust team, Lynn was a senior program manager for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. She directed the foundation’s professional fellowship programs for young professionals working on Capitol Hill and was responsible for the strategic management of all of the foundation’s education programs.  She taught at Spelman College, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature, and at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she completed her doctoral work. 

Clarise is an undergraduate student at Howard University studying political science with a concentration in community development. Before coming to The Education Trust, Clarise was a public policy intern at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, where she assisted work on federal legislation and policy. As the field assistant, she is helping to develop a field operations program and plays a key role in strategic outreach and advocacy work.

Prior to joining The Education Trust, Kate was an attorney with the education practice of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP’s Government and Regulatory Affairs Practice Group, where she specialized in regulatory and legislative issues related to higher education. Kate previously served as legislative counsel to both Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes and Rep. Artur Davis. She also served as legislative and policy adviser to former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Kate is a graduate of Georgetown University and Vanderbilt University School of Law.

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.

Judy comes to the Ed Trust with experience as an editor, writer, trainer, fundraiser, consultant, and project manager. She has worked in and written extensively about national service and youth development, has managed national technical assistance projects, and has edited fiction by writers including Louise Erdrich and Julius Lester. With her brother, the graphic novelist Paul Karasik, she is co-author of the dual-format book The Ride Together: A Brother and Sister’s Memoir of Autism in the Family (Simon & Schuster, 2003). She has lived both in the USA and abroad and is a graduate of Oberlin College.

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.

Deborah is responsible for all aspects of accounts payable and other day-to-day accounting duties at Ed Trust. She brings with her many years of accounting experience from prior employment with a D.C.-based law firm and other associations, including more than eight years as finance coordinator for the Association of Corporate Counsel.  

Emerald plays a key role in supporting successful meeting operations and development efforts within the organization. Before joining The Education Trust, she helped coordinate large-scale events and conferences at associations such as CTIA-The Wireless Association and The Gerontological Society of America. Emerald holds a bachelor's in communications from Howard University and has studied meeting and event management through George Washington University’s Certificate Program. She is a community volunteer with a passion for minority and youth development.