Prior to his current role at Education Post, Chris was Executive Director of the African American Leadership Forum (AALF), a cross-sector network of black leaders working to develop and implement an urban policy agenda across five northwest states. In 2007 Chris was elected to the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education. In that role, he helped establish the Office of New Schools, an area of the Minneapolis Public Schools to implement school reform strategies. At the same time he created the Equity and Achievement Committee, authored a board-level “Covenant with the African American Community,” and advocated safe, orderly, and rigorous schools that prepare students for the real world. In 2011, Chris organized community members for two campaigns in Minnesota: Action For Equity, a grassroots effort to spur innovation in family and education policy at the state level, and the Contract for Student Achievement, a coalition of community organizations working to achieve greater flexibility for underperforming schools through changes to Minneapolis’ teachers’ contract. Chris blogs and tweets under the name Citizen Stewart. He is based in Minneapolis.

Born and raised in the Boston area, Meg grew up in a family whose members have always been dedicated to working for social justice and equality. Education was one of the values most stressed in her childhood and, not surprisingly, three of her four parents are educators. After graduating summa cum laude from Oberlin College, Meg began her career in grassroots organizing. She went on to work on several local, state, and national political campaigns, including the Wellstone for Senate campaign in 2002. In 2003, Meg joined Stand for Children, an organization that educates and empowers parents, teachers, and community members to demand excellent public schools. Meg became Stand for Children's National Organizing Director in 2007, and assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer from 2009 to 2012. In 2004, Meg worked as a National Trainer for the Democratic National Committee. Meg served as Midwest States Regional Director on the Obama Re-Election Campaign, supervising the field operations in Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota—among other states—from the campaign’s national headquarters in Chicago. Meg now works as a Partner in 270 Strategies, a political consulting firm she started with alumni of the Obama Re-Elect, including Mitch Stewart (Battleground States Director), and Jeremy Bird (National Field Director).

Tenicka is the Senior Director of Organizing at StudentsFirst NY where her job includes organizing thousands of district parents to demand teacher quality in NYC. In her prior role she worked with the Obama Administration, where she served at the U.S. Department of Education in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Tenicka joined the Administration as Assistant to the Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Previously, she spent years as an organizer: in Flint, Michigan, as Lead Community Organizer for Flint Area Congregations Together and as an organizer for the Obama campaign in 2008; and in Alexandra, Virginia as Regional Healthcare Reform Organizer for Tenants and Workers United, where she helped build a statewide coalition in support of progressive healthcare reform. Tenicka earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Tennessee State University and a Masters of Science in U.S. History and Public Policy from the University of Michigan. She resides in Brooklyn with her family.

Adam Cioth worked as an investment banker for ten years at Goldman Sachs in New York and for five years for Volpe Brown Whelan in San Francisco, where he served as Head of the Investment Banking Division before launching his own advisory firm, Rolling Hills Capital, serving early-stage technology companies. Adam has served as the SFER finance chair since 2011, and served as the founding SFER Action Network board chair. He currently sits on both boards. Adam served on the San Francisco School Alliance which supports the San Francisco Unified School District. Adam has served on the board of directors of the French American International School and International High School, including two years as Chair of the Finance Committee and six years as Chair of the Board. Since 2003 Adam has served on the Advisory Board of the California HealthCare Foundation’s Leadership Program. Since June 2011 Adam has served on the board of Leadership Public Schools, a charter school management organization headquartered in Oakland, CA. Adam has also served on the NewSchools Venture Fund Leadership Council. Adam received a B.A. from Princeton University, studied graduate-level International Economics at the Université François Rabelais in Tours, France, and received an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

John Petry is the founder and managing principal at Sessa Capital. Previously he was a partner at Gotham Capital and Gotham Asset Management and a co-founder of the Value Investors Club (valueinvestorsclub.com). John graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. John has been active in a variety of education reform causes. He was a co- founder of Democrats for Education Reform and served as past Chairman of Education Reform Now, organizations that are dedicated to reforming education policy both nationally and locally. He was a founding member of the Board of Trustees of Success Academy Harlem 1 and Success Academy Harlem 4.