Brian W. Jones, J.D.,
Chair
President of Latimer Education, Inc.
Latimer Education Inc. is a for-profit education company that is developing an online university for African Americans. Mr. Jones was previously Senior Counsel in the Postsecondary Education Practice Group at Dow Lohnes PLLC, a Washington DC-based law firm. He has also held the positions of Executive Vice President and General Counsel of College Loan Corporation (CLC) and the U.S. Department of Education's General Counsel.
John "Skip" McKoy,
Vice Chair
Director of Programmatic Initiatives at Fight for Children
Mr. McKoy works with local stakeholders to develop strategies for improving opportunities for underserved students. Prior to this role, he has held executive positions at the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, DC Agenda, Lockheed Martin, and in the DC Government. Mr. McKoy has served as a board member of the Public Education Partnership Fund, the Humanities Council, and NPower for Greater DC Region.
Emily Bloomfield
Senior Policy Advisor at Stand for Children
Ms. Bloomfield is responsible for continually updating Stand for Children staff and field organizers on effective strategies in education reform and explaining key developments in national and state education policies. Prior to this role, Bloomfield was elected a member of the Board of Education in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) in California, and served as Vice-President and President of the Board.
Sara Mead
Senior Research Fellow, New America Foundation
Ms. Mead conducts research and writes about early childhood and elementary and secondary education with a particular focus on state and federal policy issues, including preschool, PreK-3rd education reform, the No Child Left Behind Act, federal education funding, charter schools and public school choice.
Will Marshall
President and Founder of Progressive Policy Institute
Will Marshall is president of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), a center for political innovation in Washington, D.C. He is a founder of the Democratic Leadership Council, and has worked on Capitol Hill, in political campaigns and in journalism. Marshall sits on the Boards of the National Endowment for Democracy and Truman Democrats for National Security, and is honorary Vice-President of Policy Network, an international think tank launched by Tony Blair.
Don Soifer
Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of the Lexington Institute
Mr. Soifer has published numerous articles and papers on education policy, accountability and assessments, higher education finance, closing achievement gaps for English language learners, and special education, in many of the nation's most influential publications. His research has been widely cited by education policymakers and scholars. He runs the Virginia Charter School Resource Center.
Darren Woodruff, Ph.D.
Principal Research Analyst at the American Institutes for Research
For more than ten years, Dr. Woodruff has worked on issues related to at-risk youth, special education, and school improvement. Among his most recent publications, Dr. Woodruff co-authored a chapter in the Harvard Civil Rights Project report on minority issues in special education. He has taught and counseled students at the elementary through college levels.