Erin Jones
Educational Consultant, author, and former Assistant Superintendent at OSPI
Erin Jones, LLC
Erin Jones is recognized in Washington State as a leader on issues related to equity and social justice, funding and galvanizing community leaders and partners. She has 25 years of experience in education, with over a decade of experience as a successful athletic coach and classroom teacher. Erin was able to translate her “coach moves” from athletics into the context of supporting educators in their classrooms, which led to her being recognized as Washington State’s Milken Educator of the Year in 2013.
Erin’s national recognition led to an executive role at the WA State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. She was also responsible for helping develop policy and training around culturally responsive practice. She also managed the state’s school improvement work, for which she took a hands-on approach. She invested a great deal of time coaching principals, district administrators and superintendents.
In 2016, Erin ran to lead the Office of Superintendent. Though she lost that election by a mere 1%, she gained invaluable experience during her campaign as she visited close to 100 school districts and developed a following, which she has now translated into a consulting business that deeply understands the needs of local school districts.
https://www.facebook.com/erinjonesdreams
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Educational Consultant, author, and former Assistant Superintendent at OSPI
Erin Jones, LLC
Ed Condon
Executive Director
Region IX Head Start Association
As a leader and advocate for children and families, Ed promotes the notion that we must all be eager to learn and grow new skills to meet the challenges facing our organizations and communities. He is dedicated to Region 9 Head Start Association’s goal of elevating the communities it serves.
“I am inspired by individuals committed to education in young children, their families as well as adults striving to self-develop. I believe in the promise of early education as an instrument to change lives. I believe in Head Start,” affirms Ed. “Looking back over my career — and even back to Head Start’s founding during the Great Society movement — it’s possible to state that never has Head Start been more important. Yet, now, as we approach the third decade of the 21st century, gale-force headwinds face at-risk children and families. Head Start is a life raft. And it needs all hands committed to its existence.”
As the Executive Director of the Region 9 Head Start Association, Ed has worked collaboratively with his board, membership, and association staff to build R9HSA’s many services, partnerships, and training. Today, R9HSA is well regarded within the region and beyond for elevating the Head Start community. In addition to his role as the association’s executive, Ed is an active trainer and consultant on the topic of leadership, non-profit strategies, and early education.
https://www.region9hsa.org/staff/edward-condon/
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Executive Director
Region IX Head Start Association
Amanda Bryans
Division Director
Office of Head Start
Amanda Bryans has worked in the Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services since 1999. During that time, she has led efforts to improve the quality and effectiveness of program services through regulations, research, program monitoring and training and technical assistance. She currently is the Director Research Analysis and Communication, Office of Early Childhood Development, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Amanda has a BS from Cornell University in Human Development and Family Studies and an MS from the State University of New York at Albany in Educational Psychology, Measurement and Statistics. She has worked for Head Start for 25 years including five years as a Disabilities Services and Education Coordinator, and five years as the Director of the Head Start program in Albany, NY.
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Division Director
Office of Head Start
Dr. Iheoma Iruka
UNC Research Professor of Public Policy, Fellow of FPG Child Development Institute
UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D., is a Research Professor of Public Policy and the Founding Director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at FPG Child Development Institute at UNC-CH. Prior to rejoining Carolina, she served as Chief Research Innovation Officer and Director of The Center for Early Education Research and Evaluation at HighScope Educational Research Foundation. Dr. Iruka was previously at the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska and the FPG Child Development Institute. Dr. Iruka is engaged in projects and initiatives focused on how evidence-informed policies, systems, and practices in early education can support the optimal development and experiences of children from low-income and ethnic minority households, such as through family engagement and support, quality rating and improvement systems, and early care and education systems and programs. She has been engaged in addressing how best to ensure excellence for young diverse learners, especially Black children, such as through development of a classroom observation measure, examination of non-traditional pedagogical approaches, public policies, and publications geared towards early education practitioners and policymakers.
Dr. Iruka has served or serves on numerous national boards and committees, including the Brady Education Foundation and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees on Supporting Parents of Young Children, and Applying Neurobiological and Socio-behavioral Sciences from Prenatal through Early Childhood Development: A Health Equity Approach.
Dr. Iruka has a B.A. in psychology from Temple University, M.A. in psychology from Boston University, and Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami, Florida.
https://www.iheomairuka.com
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UNC Research Professor of Public Policy, Fellow of FPG Child Development Institute
UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
Sharonne Navas
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Equity in Education Coalition
Sharonne Navas is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Equity in Education Coalition.
The first American born child of immigrant parents from Guatemala and El Salvador, Sharonne understands, and values, the complexity of being mutli-lingual and multi-cultural in America. A native of New York City, Sharonne moved to the Seattle area in 2009.
Past professions include being a community organizer with Stand for Children, Executive Director of Para Los Niños, Assistant Director of Development for NARAL Pro-Choice America, Deputy Executive Director for Ayuda, Inc., and Development Coordinator for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
In 2010, she was appointed as Commissioner for the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs.
In 2016, she was appointed to the Board of Trustees of Green River Community College.
Sharonne was an advisory member for the Thrive By Five‘s “Talk, Love, Play” initiative, a cohort member of Thrive by Five’s “Advancing Racial Equity Theory of Change in Early Learning,” a committee member of the WA State Education Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee. Sharonne is currently a member of the advocacy caucus, community network steering committee and sponsors group of the Road Map Project of CCER.
She also volunteers for the South King Council on Human Services and was a Board member of the League of Education Voters and is on the Steering Committee of the Southeast Seattle Education Coalition. Sharonne holds a BA in Psychology and Sociology from St. John’s University.
She spends her off-time exploring the various foods and wines of WA State with her husband Steve and their tweenie dachshunds, Manny, and Porter.
https://eec-wa.org/
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Co-Founder and Executive Director
Equity in Education Coalition
Robin Bozek
Executive
Michigan
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Executive
Michigan
Melissa Johnson
Lobbyist
Bogard
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Lobbyist
Bogard
Marjorie Sims
Managing Director
Ascend at Aspen Institute
Marjorie has more than 20 years of experience in advancing the status of women and families at local, state, national, and international levels. She formerly served as program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation with a specific focus on family economic security programs and managed a $65M grant portfolio. Prior to joining the Kellogg Foundation, Sims held the positions of chief operating officer, interim president, and vice president of programs and operations at the Washington Area Women’s Foundation. During her tenure in Washington, Sims helped launch Stepping Stones, a $5 million, multi-year, regional initiative to increase the income and assets of women-headed families. Stepping Stones received national recognition as a model public-private partnership. In addition, Sims served as the executive director of the California Women’s Law Center and as a policy analyst with the International Center for Research on Women. She is a co-founder of Women’s Policy, Inc., an organization that emerged from the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues to provide unbiased analyses and educational briefings about federal legislation affecting women and families. Sims has additional expertise in expanding women’s philanthropy and managing leadership transitions.
https://ascend.aspeninstitute.org/
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Managing Director
Ascend at Aspen Institute
