ERS Announces Leadership Team to Drive Post-Pandemic Support for School Systems
September 21, 2023 – Boston, MA – Consulting nonprofit Education Resource Strategies is pleased to announce a set of new leadership roles aligned to the organization’s efforts to scale excellence and impact in this critical moment for K-12 education. Working with Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Karen Hawley Miles, Jonathan Travers, Managing Partner of ERS’ consulting practice, will be assuming the role of President of Education Resource Strategies. Travers has led a nimble response to the rapidly changing and dire challenges facing ERS’ K-12 district partners. His bold action in founding and leading the ESSER National Working Group has brought together top leaders of organizations serving school systems in America to work together rather than in competition to understand and respond to the post-pandemic recovery and redesign challenge.
“System leaders feel intense pressure to do right by their students, families, and communities during a period of change and uncertainty,” says Travers. “I’m hopeful that the ERS team can provide the expertise, energy, and optimism to help them build toward their vision for success at scale.”
Greg Hills is joining the organization as Chief Operating Officer and Managing Partner of Core Services, succeeding Karen Baroody, who is retiring after 18 years of dynamic leadership and service. Hills comes to ERS after nearly two decades at FSG, a leading nonprofit consulting firm that works with corporations, foundations, and nonprofits to address critical societal issues.
During Hills’ tenure at FSG, the firm grew from a 15-person start-up to a 150-person enterprise. Most recently, Hills served as Chief Executive Officer overseeing six Impact Units across three continents and leading efforts to advance equitable systems change among FSG’s clients, partners, and communities. A longtime champion of organizational operations, Hills looks forward to serving in an internally focused role at ERS. Hills will play a key role in managing and growing the infrastructure needed to recruit, retain, and grow great team members, foster collaboration, make strategic shifts, and prioritize the highest impact work.
“I am thrilled and honored to be joining the amazing team at ERS,” shared Hills. “I admire ERS’ deep commitment to advancing K-12 education excellence and equity and I am looking forward to collaborating with the board, leadership, and staff to achieve ERS’ aspirations for growth and impact.”
ERS Partner since 2021, Betty Chang will take on the role of Managing Partner of Field Building to lead the next evolution of ERS’ field building efforts, including an expansion of the organization’s leadership development networks and continued work to bring ERS tools and resources to the broader K-12 education field.
In addition to these leadership roles, two other ERS partners are taking on roles that will enable expansion of ERS work in the field.
A focused effort to accelerate state response to recovery and redesign will be led by Partner Dr. Ventura Rodriguez. In this role, Dr. Rodriguez leads ERS’ work to enable the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of effective and ambitious state-level policies—policies that create critical enabling conditions for school and system leaders to transform how they use resources to support schools and students.
David Rosenberg, ERS Partner since 2015, is increasing his focus on the organization’s work to redesign K-12’s most vital profession. Through ERS’ human capital practice area and the national Coalition to Reimagine the Teaching Role, Rosenberg is leading a movement to transform the teaching job into one that is dynamic, rewarding, collaborative, sustainable, and diverse. This pivotal work comes at a time when teacher turnover is at an all-time high and districts across the country are facing a teacher shortage crisis.
These shifts in leadership position the organization to respond to the current moment in K-12 education, as districts nationwide prepare for the end of K-12 COVID relief funding, plan for long-term sustainability, and hope to emerge from the pandemic with a renewed focus on equity and excellence for all students.