The National Center is made up of a diverse group of experienced people that work to solve our nation’s most challenging education problems. We attract professionals from many backgrounds including former federal and state government executives, education foundation leaders, researchers, education policy experts, education project managers, district superintendents and school principals.
Board of Trustees

Joyce Elliott, Chair
Senator, Arkansas State Legislature

Peggy Brookins
President and CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

Robert L. Joss
Philip H. Knight professor and dean emeritus of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business

James W. Pellegrino
Co-Director of Learning Sciences Research Institute
Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor
Distinguished Professor of Education
University of Illinois at Chicago

Betsy Brown Ruzzi
Former NCEE Vice President, Independent Consultant

Lewis Spence
Former Court Administrator,
Massachusetts Trial Court

Vivien Stewart
Senior Adviser for Education, Asia Society

Aaron Thompson
President, Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education

Joanne Weiss
President of Weiss Associates and former chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

John White
Co-founder and Board Chairman, Propel America, and former Louisiana State Superintendent of Education.
Leadership

Anthony Mackay, CEO
Anthony Mackay has advised organizations, governments and school systems on every continent and is a leading voice in global education research and development. He is an expert advisor to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education (IBE) and council member of Asia Society’s Center for Global Education. Mackay moderates the annual International Summit on the Teaching Profession and the Global Education Industry Summit and facilitates key debates at the events of the World Innovation Summit on Education (WISE). He is also the Chair of the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER); Deputy Chancellor of Swinburne University, Melbourne; Senior Fellow, Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne; and Deputy Chair of the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. Before joining NCEE, Mackay was the CEO of the Centre for Strategic Education in Australia. In 2016, Mackay began serving as senior advisor to the NCEE and former president and founder, Marc Tucker. In January of 2019, Tucker and the NCEE Board of Trustees selected Mackay as the second president and CEO of NCEE.

Jason Dougal
Executive Vice-President

Kelli Polon
Chief Financial Officer

Jennifer Beck-Wilson
Director, Continuous Improvement

Eric Jones
Director, Professional Learning

Jackie Kraemer
Director, Policy Analysis and Development

Larry Molinaro, Jr.
Director, Research and Development

Suzie Sullivan
Secretary of the Corporation

Josh Tucker
Director, Communications and Advocacy
Staff

Andrea Anastasio
Manager, Partner Support

Syrenthia Anderson
National Facilitator

Todd Baldwin
Director, Kentucky

Julia Banks
Associate Director, Communications and Advocacy

Francis Barnes
National Facilitator

Doris Battle
Director, Facilitator Development

Ann Borthwick
Learning Systems Architect

Emily Brimsek
Senior Manager, Research and Evaluation

Valerie Carter
Administrator, Systems Development and Support

Janice Case
Director, California

Gretchen Cheney
Senior Policy Analyst

Edward Chevallier II
Executive Facilitator

Jennifer Craw
Data and Graphic Designer

Mike Czerniawski
National Facilitator

John DeAtley
Senior National Facilitator

Christine Denmark
Director, Florida, South Carolina and Georgia

Yvonne DiMattia
Distinguished Facilitator

Nathan Driskell
Associate Director, Policy Analysis and Development

Cindy Fielder
Senior National Facilitator

Jill Fitzsimmons
Director, Human Resources

Mischelle Handley
National Director, Strategic Partnerships

Pam Hedgpeth
Distinguished Facilitator

Claire Hollywood
Associate Director, Research and Development

Donna Hughes
Senior Instructional Systems Designer

Tonya Johnson-Hunter
Senior National Facilitator

Akshay Mehta
Controller and Associate Director, Finance

Amy Morton
Director, Pennsylvania

Annette O’Boyce
Senior National Facilitator

David Osborne
Associate Director, Professional Learning

Heather Porterfield
Manager, Online Learning

Joel Price
Director, Information Technology

Nantana Ritthaworn
Accounting Clerk

Kenneth Rybarczyk
Director, Production and Client Systems

Tim Schneider
Director, Louisiana

Sharisa Sesawaeng
Office Coordinator

Susan Rucker
Director, Mississippi and North Carolina

Greg Thornton
Resident Superintendent

Bryce Walker

James Williams
Senior National Facilitator

Jordan Zaner
Administrator, Technology Development and Support
Emeritus Trustees

David J. Barram
Former Administrator, U.S. General Services Administration

VanBuren N. Hansford, Jr.
Partner, Global Commodities Trade and Finance Ltd.

Robert King
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education.

Ray Marshall
Audre and Bernard Rapoport Centennial Chair in Economics & Public Affairs, L.B.J. School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, TX

Robert Schwartz
Professor Emeritus of Practice in Education Policy and Administration, Harvard University Graduate School of Education