Our team is made up of outstanding individuals and leaders. They have built organizations, established proof points, changed public policies, and influenced how people think about American education reform. Individually and collectively, they offer leading-edge ideas, skills, and talents to help build the education reform field in a way no other organization does.
Partners
Monisha Lozier is a co-founder and partner at Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. She leads Bellwether’s talent practice, through which she blends her passion for the education community with over 10 years of executive search and recruitment experience.
Prior to launching Bellwether, Ms. Lozier was the founder of her own small business, Cobbe Place Consulting. In this capacity, she and her team conducted executive-level searches for dozens of reform-oriented organizations in the K-12 education community.
Before starting her own practice, she was a managing consultant in AT Kearney’s education executive search practice where she specialized in senior-level searches for leaders of institutions of higher education, education-related associations and nonprofits, and for-profit education companies. Prior to joining AT Kearney, she was an associate, senior associate, and ultimately the first-ever client partner in Korn/Ferry International’s education practice.
Ms. Lozier holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University where she focused on organizational behavior, strategy, and nonprofit management. She earned a B.A. in political science from Connecticut College. She and her husband reside in Chicago with their two daughters.
monisha@bellwethereducation.org
Andrew J. Rotherham is a co-founder and partner at Bellwether Education, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. Rotherham leads Bellwether’s thought leadership, idea generation, and policy analysis work. He also writes the weekly “School of Thought” column for TIME.com as well as the blog Eduwonk.com and is the co-publisher of “Education Insider” a federal policy research tool produced by Whiteboard Advisors. Rotherham previously served at The White House as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the Clinton administration and is a former member of the Virginia Board of Education. In addition to Bellwether, Rotherham has founded or co-founded two other influential education reform organizations including Education Sector and served on the boards of several other successful education start-ups.
Rotherham is the author or co-author of more than 150 published articles, book chapters, papers, and op-eds about education policy and politics and is the author or editor of four books on educational policy. He serves on advisory boards and committees for a variety of organizations including Education Pioneers, The Broad Foundation, the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research. (CALDER). Rotherham is on the board of directors for the Indianapolis Mind Trust, is Vice Chair of the Curry School of Education Foundation at the University of Virginia, and serves on the Visiting Committee for the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Rotherham believes dramatic improvements in America’s education system are integral to ensuring equality of opportunity and building a more equitable and just society.
He lives in Virginia with his wife and two daughters.
Kim Smith is co-founder and CEO of Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. She is widely recognized as an innovative and entrepreneurial leader in education, and was featured in Newsweek’s report on the “Women of the 21st Century” as “the kind of woman who will shape America’s new century.” After serving as a founding team member at Teach For America, she went on to found and lead an AmeriCorps program for community-based leaders in education as well as a business start-up and worked in marketing for online learning. After completing her M.B.A. at Stanford University, she co-founded and led NewSchools Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy firm focused on transforming public education, where she helped to create a new, bipartisan, cross-sector community of entrepreneurial change agents.
Ms. Smith has helped to incubate numerous education and social change organizations and has served on a range of boards, which currently include those of Bellwether, NewSchools, Rocketship Education, ROADS Charter School, and ImpactAssets. She has authored a number of publications about the entrepreneurial education landscape, including “What Is Educational Entrepreneurship?,” “Social Purpose Capital Markets in K–12,” “Creating Responsive Supply in Education,” “Innovation in Education: Problems and Opportunities,” “Encouraging Social Innovation Through Capital: Using Technology to Address Barriers,” “Pull and Push: Strengthening Demand for Innovation in Education,” “Supporting and Scaling Change: Lessons from the First Round of the Investing in Innovation (i3) Program,” and “Steering Capital: Optimizing Financial Support for Innovation in Public Education.” She is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She is also the founder of the Aspen-NewSchools Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education Fellowship Program. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.
Rex Varner is a partner at Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. He leads projects within Bellwether’s strategic advising and consulting practice. Prior to joining Bellwether, he was Vice President, Strategy & Administration for Human Assets at Teach For America. In this role, he was responsible for Teach For America’s day-to-day operations and strategies with regard to human capital, as well as setting and implementing projects to scale the organization for the long term. Rex comes to the non-profit sector with significant private sector experience. From 2001 to 2009, he was a practice manager at the Corporate Executive Board, where he advised senior executives in financial service operations, and launched programs serving sales and marketing executives at mid-sized companies. Previously, Rex was a manager with McKinsey & Company’s Johannesburg office, where he focused on financial institutions and technology in Africa and the UK. He was also a consultant with Andersen Consulting. Rex holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the College of William & Mary. He is a former Peace Corps volunteer (Mali ’93-’95) and resides in Washington, DC.
Mary K. Wells is a co-founder and partner at Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. Prior to co-founding Bellwether, she established an independent consulting practice serving education reform organizations with a focus on growth strategy, partnership opportunities, business planning, organizational development, and implementation planning. Recent clients include the Denver School of Science and Technology, Teach Plus, YES Prep Public Schools, and the New Teacher Project.
Ms. Wells has worked as a private sector consultant, an investor, and a nonprofit executive. From 2005 to 2007, she designed, launched, and managed the Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (T-STEM) Initiative for the Texas High School Project. T-STEM is a $71 million initiative to improve the quality of math and science education in Texas and to expand the pipeline of highly skilled employees qualified for careers in the economy of the 21st century. She also managed the New Schools portfolio for the Texas High School Project, which included investments in high-performing charter schools and school developers.
Ms. Wells brings extensive experience from the private sector. She was a manager and consultant with Bain & Company, where she worked primarily with Fortune 500 companies on growth strategy, new business development, and post-merger integration issues. She was with Bain & Company for over seven years. During that time, she advised Boston Public Schools on the creation and implementation of small learning communities within their comprehensive high schools on a pro bono basis. She holds a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.
Team
Offiong Bassey is an analyst with Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. She focuses primarily on strategic advising at Bellwether. Prior to joining the team, Offiong was a senior associate consultant with Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm. While at Bain, she worked on a range of projects – from traditional growth strategy to supply chain and operational efficiency. Her client portfolio consisted of multibillion dollar companies in retail, pharmaceuticals, media, and IT software, as well as the non-profit sector. She is excited to bring her corporate strategy expertise to bear in the service of students in need.
Offiong’s passion for youth is manifest in many different contexts. She has worked as a home school teacher to 8th grade twins and has done curriculum development and instruction in academic enrichment programs (such as The Ulysses S Grant Foundation and The Steppingstone Foundation, of which she is an alum). She gives motivational speeches and offers artist residencies in schools, encouraging students of all backgrounds to embrace their potential to contribute to the world around them. Offiong has also been the director of young adult programs in various cultural, faith based, and community organizations. She is a singer, songwriter, and poet. Offiong is a graduate of Yale University where she double majored in Political Science and African American Studies.
offiong@bellwethereducation.org
Rachael Brown is an associate with Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. Before joining Bellwether, Rachael was an associate editor with The Atlantic, and coordinated digital strategy for Strong American Schools’ ED in ‘08 campaign. She previously taught high school English with the District of Columbia Public Schools as a Teach for America corps member, receiving the Symantec Award for Innovation in Teaching in 2007. She has written about education for The Atlantic, The Guardian, and National Journal, among other outlets. Rachael holds an MA from American University and a bachelor of fine arts from Emerson College.
rachael@bellwethereducation.org
Traci Dove is a Senior Associate with Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. She focuses primarily on executive search in Bellwether’s Talent Services service area. A seasoned search professional, Traci brings more than 10 years of executive search experience in the higher education, non-profit, and K-12 sectors. Prior to joining Bellwether, Traci served as an Associate for Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates, and a Consultant for A.T. Kearney Executive Search. In these roles, she participated in numerous searches for senior executives for institutions of higher education and not-profit clients. Before entering the executive search industry, Traci worked in the Regulatory Advisory Practice of KPMG Peat Marwick and for WCI, Inc., an information technology consulting firm.
Harsha Dronamraju is an Education Pioneers Analyst Fellow with Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. Prior to joining Bellwether, Harsha was a consulting associate and team leader at Cambridge Associates, an investment consulting firm serving mostly non-profit endowments. As an associate, Harsha worked on asset allocation and investment manager selection. Most recently, he served as an Education Pioneers Summer Fellow, launching a teacher coaching initiative with the Houston Independent School District. Harsha holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Tufts University.
harsha@bellwethereducation.org
Rebecca Gifford Goldberg is an associate partner with Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. She focuses primarily on strategic advising at Bellwether. Before joining Bellwether, Rebecca was a consultant with McKinsey and Company, where she managed engagements with leading global institutions on growth strategy, sales and marketing, and operational efficiency. She began her career at the SEED Foundation, where she helped launch the SEED School of Maryland and supported the ongoing operations of the SEED School of Washington, D.C. Rebecca directed the Maryland Leadership Workshops’ senior high program for three years, working with students with diverse backgrounds from across the Mid-Atlantic. As a high school student, she served as the voting student member of the Maryland State Board of Education. Rebecca holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
rebecca@bellwethereducation.org
Sara Mead is an associate partner with Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. In this role, she writes and conducts policy analysis on issues related to early childhood education and K-12 education reform and provides strategic advising support to clients serving high-need students. She has written extensively on education issues including federal and states education policy, charter schools, teacher effectiveness, and early childhood education. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets including The Washington Post, New York Times, and USA Today, and she has appeared on CBS and ABC News and on NPR. Before joining Bellwether, she directed the New America Foundation’s Early Education Initiative. She has also worked for Education Sector, the Progressive Policy Institute, and the U.S. Department of Education. She serves on the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, which authorizes charter schools in the District of Columbia and holds them accountable for results, and on the board of Democrats for Education Reform. The daughter, granddaughter, and sister of public school educators, she holds a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Vanderbilt University.
Saamra Mekuria-Grillo is an associate partner with Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. She focuses primarily on leadership development. Prior to joining Bellwether, Saamra was a consultant at Bain & Company, where she worked on organizational design, strategy, and due diligence projects for clients in education, private equity, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. Saamra also spent several years at Google, during which she focused on training and management of Google’s customer service sales and operations team. While at Google, Saamra spent over a year in India, as one of the founding team members of Google’s Hyderabad office. Saamra has a deep passion for education reform, which she has tapped through several projects with KIPP Bay Area Schools, and as a founding board member of the Mission Preparatory School, a charter school serving low-income students in San Francisco’s Mission and Excelsior districts. Saamra holds an MBA with a certificate in Public Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, where she double majored in History and International Studies. She is also a proud graduate of the Boston Latin School, the first public school in the United States.
saamra@bellwethereducation.org
Leslie Nair is an associate partner with Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. She focuses primarily on executive search in Bellwether’s Talent Services service area and has worked in the talent acquisition space for over 20 years, developing strong, diverse candidate pools and finding executives who “fit.” She has conducted all phases of national-level, retained executive search research and recruiting, completing hundreds of senior level searches in wide variety of fields including healthcare, finance, medical device manufacturing, pharmaceutical, financial services and non-profit. Before joining Bellwether in 2010, Leslie worked for several boutique firms before launching her own practice in 2004. Leslie holds a BA in French and International Relations from Bradley University.
leslie@bellwethereducation.org
Veenay Singla is an associate partner with Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. Most recently, Veenay was an independent consultant focused extensively in the education reform sector. Her consulting portfolio included Bellwether Education Partners, Chicago Public Schools, New Leaders for New Schools, Washington University in St. Louis/St. Louis Public Schools, The National Association of Charter School Authorizers, UChicago Impact, and The Achievement Network. She previously worked for the Chicago Public Education Fund, a Chicago-based venture philanthropy, where she managed the organization’s teacher quality portfolio, and Chicago Public Schools, where she assisted with various teacher quality initiatives. Veenay also supported initiatives with Boston Public Schools to establish Boston’s first alternative certification program and an urban principal preparation program. She taught fourth grade as a Teach For America corps member in Houston, Texas. Veenay earned her M.P.P. from the University of Chicago, and an Ed.M from Harvard University. She graduated with her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.