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ERS Staff | Board of Directors
Manager
Keith is currently working on a project to study the resource implications of investments to recruit and onboard new teachers coming into the system each year. He is also supporting the development of improved systems and processes to track student outcomes and the progress of districts that have... More »
Principal Associate
Tara is supporting research on how urban school systems can shift to more strategic professional learning practices and documenting relevant proof points. Prior to joining ERS, Tara earned her MBA at the Yale School of Management, where she was co-chair of the Yale Education Leadership... More »
Communications Specialist
As a member of the Communications team, Kate brings her background in education research to her work with colleagues on content development, social media development, and the monthly newsletter. The main goal of this work is to connect ERS' knowledge and resources with the school district leaders... More »
Human Resources & Operations Assistant
Carson supports Noah Carp, Director of Operations, and Jessica Fick, Senior Talent & HR Lead, in guiding ERS's HR, talent, and organizational development work. She helps ensure ERS is hiring the best and most diverse talent to grow our team; she also supports the onboarding and training process... More »
Partner and Managing Director
Karen has been a member of the ERS leadership team since 2005. She oversees ERS' research and product development, strategic planning, and internal operations. During her tenure the organization has grown from five to over 50 employees. Over the past decade she has worked to understand and... More »
Principal Associate
Based in the ERS West Coast office, Christina is investigating how California successfully enacted its weighted student funding formula in an effort to draw insights for other states pursuing similar reforms. She is also a member of the Spring Branch team and supporting the development of the... More »
Analyst
Rachel currently supports the System 20/20 team in using ERS’ comparative database to answer internal research questions and create new planning tools for consultants and district partners. Prior to joining ERS, Rachel received her B.A. in Public Policy & American Institutions from Brown... More »
Director, Finance and Operations
Noah is responsible for finance, accounting, HR and talent, the administrative team, and the internal operations of the organization. Prior to joining ERS, Noah was the Director of Financial Planning and Analysis at Endurance International Group, where he led financial planning, budgeting, and... More »
Director of School Design Engagements
Currently, Kate is collaborating with the Shelby County Schools team to scale strategic school design and roll out student-based budgeting, and has previously worked with Boston Public Schools, Baltimore City Schools, and Metro Nashville Public Schools. She also supports the development and... More »
Analyst
Rony currently works on the Oakland team, supporting the district in creating a new budget development process and advising high schools on strategic school design. Prior to joining ERS, Rony majored in Economics and minored in Social Anthropology at Harvard University. He has previously taught... More »
Manager
Since joining ERS in 2008, Betty has worked with numerous partner districts on resource use analysis and student-based-budgeting (SBB), including Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Duval County, Memphis, Nashville, and Rochester. She also works on many of our internal knowledge management projects... More »
Senior Administrative Assistant
Caitlin provides direct support to the CEO, Karen Hawley Miles and Managing Director, Karen Baroody. Caitlin supports the Business Development Manager, Karen Silverman as well as the contract process and serves in the capacity of Events Coordinator. Prior to joining ERS, Caitlin was the Program... More »
Manager
Rob serves as a member of the School Design practice area, which trains and supports principals with the deliberate organization of their school’s resources—talent, time, money, and technology—to optimize student outcomes. Over the last six years, he has supported principal cohorts in several... More »
School Design Lead
Joy is currently on the Memphis team, collaborating with the Shelby County Schools team to scale strategic school design and roll out student-based budgeting. Prior to joining ERS, Joy was the founding Director of Upper School at East Bay Innovation Academy in Oakland, CA. EBIA implemented an... More »
Communications Specialist, External Engagement
Meg joined the Communications Team in January 2017 to focus on our external engagements. This umbrella encompasses our external work at conferences, the webinars we host, our internal databases, and our website. Meg is in charge of tracking the flow of information, making sure the data is in good... More »
Manager
Sam guides district leadership teams through the process of maximizing resources to improve student outcomes. Since joining ERS in 2010, she has worked with over a dozen partner districts. Currently, Sam manages ERS’ work with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), where she is supporting the... More »
Principal Associate
JaMaar currently works on the Baltimore project, helping the leadership team align district resource allocation with its strategic priorities, to improve student outcomes. He also assists districts in analyzing revenues and expenses to inform long term financial planning. Prior to ERS, JaMaar... More »
Partner
Kristen leads ERS’ strategic school design practice area, working directly with schools and districts to organize school budgets, staffing plans, and schedules to support student achievement. She also leads ERS’ development of curriculum and tools that support strategic school design. Kristen’s... More »
Senior Talent and HR Lead
Jessica leads the talent and organizational development work at ERS. She focuses on hiring a talented and diverse team, onboarding new team members, and ensuring we provide learning and professional development opportunities in our values-driven culture. Jessica’s education career began with... More »
Partner
Dr. Stephen Frank heads ERS research, methodology, and data analytics; and state practices. Over the past 15 years, he has led strategy development projects in school systems across the country, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Atlanta, Syracuse, Rochester, St. Paul,... More »
Communications Coordinator
Alyssa manages our print publication production, keeps the ERS website updated, maintains our social media presence, and assists the organization with design-related PowerPoint needs. She writes and edits print, online, and multimedia content, and she creates videos about ERS work and tools... More »
Senior Communications Specialist
Melissa has a key role in writing and editing ERS content, from white papers to website text to blog posts. She also focuses on how to best disseminate ERS’ tools and publications to educational leaders, and to develop compelling narratives that convey what ERS has learned from schools. Melissa... More »
Manager
Nisha currently manages the ERS team working with Los Angeles (LAUSD), which is the second largest district in the U.S., serving over 500,000 students. In an all-hand-on-deck effort, the ERS-LAUSD partnership is being supported by a task force of several local civic, business, and entertainment... More »
Manager
Genevieve joined ERS in 2012 and supports the school design practice area. She works directly with schools to align resources with improvement priorities, and she supports districts in developing the enabling conditions to bring strategic designs to scale. Genevieve has supported districts in... More »
Director, Communications
Allison is responsible for ERS communications, media relations, and marketing. ERS has chosen and is supported to take lessons learned from our deep partnership work to inform a broader network of districts. This includes publications, interactive web-based tools, media and conference... More »
Manager
Courtney joined ERS in 2013 and supports ERS' School Funding and Portfolio Practice Area. She has also supported Cleveland Metropolitan School District in the implementation of student-based budgeting, helping the district align its funding model with its overall portfolio reform strategy.... More »
Senior Research and Data Specialist
Jenny helps to ensure that partner district data is clean, accurate and standardized across all projects. She also supports the ERS Technology and ERS Methodology teams to ensure that the ERS data analysis platform is current and optimized for the needs of partner engagement. She is also a member... More »
Principal Associate
Nicole’s work at ERS includes district-level resource maps and strategic school design. She worked as part of the Baltimore team to create school design "prototypes" for the district’s high schools and to identify districtwide opportunities for resource shifts based on the School System 20/20... More »
Associate
Jessica currently works with the Baltimore City Public Schools to find ways into improve equity and outcomes for students while combating a substantial budget gap. Before joining ERS, Jessica worked in the New Haven Public School’s Office of Research, Assessment, and Student Information, with... More »
Application Support Specialist
As part of the Technologies Team, Ben supports ERS’ most essential software such as CAPS and Spaces. He supports the implementation of software—identifying potential enhancements—and tests for bugs. Prior to joining ERS, Ben made a transition into tech with Uber Technologies (or just Uber as... More »
Associate
Emily currently works on the Indianapolis team at ERS. Prior to joining ERS, Emily served as a City Year corps member in the Boston Public Schools. As a corps member, she supported a classroom of third grade students in academics, social emotional skills, and attendance. While in graduate... More »
Administrative Assistant
Katie serves as primary support to partners David Rosenberg, leader of the funding and portfolio practice area, and Kristen Ferris, leader of the school design practice area. She also directly supports the strategic school design team, which works with schools and districts to organize school... More »
Partner
Joe leads the ERS San Francisco Office, where he is building our capacity to bring transformational change in the West. Prior to ERS, Joe was Vice President at the National Center on Time & Learning, where he led that organization’s School Design Group, a team of outstanding former school and... More »
Chief Executive Officer and President
Karen Hawley Miles is the president and executive director of Education Resource Strategies, Inc. She has worked intensively with school systems nationwide to analyze and improve their funding systems, school-level resource use, and human capital and professional development systems. This work... More »
Administrative Assistant
Julie provides primary support to partners Stephen Frank and Jonathan Travers. She also supports ERS managers with booking travel and scheduling meetings and works with the rest of the administrative team in event planning and office management. Prior to joining ERS, Julie lived in Washington,... More »
Systems Administrator
As a member of the Technologies team, Arthur is responsible for the implementation of the information technology infrastructure at ERS. His work includes the design and deployment of ERS’ financial, marketing, and collaboration tools. Prior to joining ERS, Arthur worked at the Glendale Unified... More »
Principal Associate
Sara is currently working with Shelby County Schools to support their transition to a student-based-budgeting system. Sara is also a member of the Funding & Portfolio practice area and has conducted financial analyses in several districts including in Indianapolis, Boston, Baltimore, and Shelby... More »
Staff Accountant
Luree is responsible for all accounts payable, expense reports, and various special projects within the Finance team. Luree recently graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in accounting. Her previous experience includes a position as a Staff Accountant at Shorelight Education, and... More »
Principal Associate
Since joining ERS in 2015, Jess has conducted resource use analyses in Baltimore, Spring Branch, and Shelby County Schools to help district leaders better understand how their resources align to strategic priorities. She has also worked directly with school teams in Baltimore, Boston, and Oakland... More »
Principal Associate
Emily was most recently a member of the Baltimore team, where helped the district close its $130M budget gap and find solutions to address its structural deficit over the long term. She has also worked on Resource Mapping projects with Tulsa Public Schools and Buffalo, NY to analyze resource use... More »
Associate
Taran is a member of the funding practice area. His work focuses on helping school districts better understand how their money is being spent in and across schools. Recently, Taran worked on a project that analyzed school district spending on teacher professional development. He has previously... More »
Associate
Cooper works on district resource mapping, helping districts understand how their resource allocation is aligned with their strategic goals. Most recently, he worked with Indianapolis and Holyoke on projecting out the future state of the districts based on their portfolio reform strategy. He... More »
Principal Associate
Sarah works on the Indianapolis team, where she has supported the district in the design and implementation of student-based-budgeting and school autonomy. She was a member of the New York State and Philadelphia teams and serves on the Human Capital Practice Area. Before coming to ERS, Sarah was... More »
Partner
David provides strategic counsel to leaders of the large urban school districts with which ERS partners, including most recently Shelby County (TN), Indianapolis, Hartford, and Holyoke (MA). He is a co-author, with Karen Hawley Miles and Genevieve Green, of Igniting the Learning Engine, a study... More »
Accounting Assistant
Nick reviews and enters expense reports and organizes, reviews, and reconciles invoices for accounts payable. He also cuts checks for the expense reports and invoices that need to be paid out. Prior to joining ERS, Nick was a full time student at Saint Anselm College. He worked two internships:... More »
Principal Associate
Laura works on district resource mapping, helping districts understand how their resource allocation is aligned with their strategic goals. She has worked with Denver and Prince George’s County and is currently working on the State of Georgia team doing resource analysis. Prior to joining ERS in... More »
Associate
Sarah supports the analysis of district resource use, helping districts understand how their resource allocation aligns to their strategic goals. Her most current work involves analyzing school-level resource use in Shelby County Schools and conducting a School System 20/20 diagnostic for the... More »
Strategic Growth Manager
Karen manages ERS’ fundraising strategy, including relationships with current and potential funders, board management, grant proposals, and reports. She also works to ensure that our funding strategy aligns with ERS’ organizational growth plans. Before joining ERS, Karen was senior vice... More »
Director, Tools and Technologies
Kristan leads the ERS Technologies Team in its work to create tools that help school systems transform their resource use to achieve dramatically improved student learning. He serves as the product manager for ERS’s Cost Allocation Performance System (CAPS) – ERS’s in-house web-based data... More »
Associate
Danielle currently works on the Oakland team, helping conduct a citywide study to analyze resource use across Oakland's district and charter schools. Prior to joining ERS, Danielle worked as a research assistant at Goodman Research Group, where she conducted external research and evaluation on a... More »
Principal Associate
Nick is currently working with the Indianapolis team, specifically in the area of funding reform and strategic school design. He is helping the district implement student-based-budgeting, ensuring that the district’s funding model aligns with their overall portfolio reform strategy. Before ERS,... More »
Senior Communications Specialist
Renée is the Senior Communications Specialist in Strategy and Operations on the Communications team. She brings an analytical and consulting mindset to our communications and outreach efforts. Her role spans a range of work, from supporting events like the ERS-Aspen CFO Network and the ERS Budget... More »
Partner
Jonathan leads the consulting practice area at ERS and works with districts to analyze and improve resource use across systems. Jonathan has led ERS teams supporting many districts across the country, including Oakland, Cleveland, Charlotte, Denver and Washington, DC. This work includes examining... More »
Manager
Joseph is a Manager in ERS’ consulting practice. Since joining the team, he has supported a range of districts in realigning their resources to promote student achievement. Most recently, he has worked with the Georgia Department of Education on a multi-year engagement to refine their strategy... More »
Analyst
Airian is currently working on the ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) Equity Team, helping to develop and explore metrics pertaining to equitable resourcing for schools across the nation. He is also part of the Hewlett state funding team, where he gauges state readiness for funding reform and... More »
Principal Associate
Ashley is currently on the New York team, which is working at the state and district level to help LEAs reimagine the use of people, time, and money to drive greater student learning. Ashley is also on the Human Capital Practice Area team. Prior to ERS, Ashley earned a master’s in education... More »
Advisor Partner, Bain and Company
Marcia Blenko is an advisor partner at Bain & Company, which she joined in 1988. She co-founded and led Bain’s Global Organization Practice for a number of years. Much of her consulting career with Bain was spent in London, serving global clients. She has extensive experience in organization... More »
Senior Vice President, Education Services for News Corporation
Dr. Peter Gorman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Peter Gorman Leadership Associates LLC, has been recognized nationally as an education leader and for developing outstanding leadership teams with 30 years of experience in education and business. Along with his responsibilities at Peter... More »
Executive Director, Boston Plan for Excellence
Since 1995, Ellen Guiney has led the Boston Plan for Excellence (BPE), a non-profit organization dedicated to innovative strategies for improving education in Boston Public Schools. During that time, BPE shifted its focus from teacher mini-grants to systemic issues, and worked closely with BPS... More »
Professor Emeritus of Education & Public Affairs, University of Maryland
Dr. Hawley joined the faculty at the University of Maryland in 1993 and his research and teaching interests include education policy, professional development, school improvement, and intergroup relations. Prior to joining the University of Maryland, he served as a Scholar in Residence at the... More »
Professor of Education Leadership, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Monica Higgins is the Kathleen McCartney Professor of Education Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where her research and teaching focus on the areas of leadership development and organizational change. In education, Monica is studying the effectiveness of senior leadership... More »
Senior Lecturer on Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Dr. Irvin Scott joined the faculty of Harvard Graduate School of Education during the summer of 2016. At Harvard, Irvin’s concentration is Educational Leadership. Irvin is excited about his work teaching at HGSE in the School Leadership Program and Doctor of Education Leadership Program. Before... More »