DFER New York Staff & Board of Advisors
Elizabeth Ling, New York State Director
Elizabeth Ling oversees strategy and operations for DFER's New York State advocacy programs. She focuses on building coalitions of various education reform groups, and works with legislators and government officials to help shape public education policies.
Elizabeth serves as a board director in the Harlem Success Academy charter school network, having started with its first school. She is on the steering committee of Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century (DL21C), an organization of young politically-active professionals. A Coro Leadership New York graduate, she has also volunteered on campaigns at the national, state, and city levels.
Prior to joining DFER, Elizabeth spent a dozen years in the financial services sector at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as well as at two multinational banks. She attended the University of Chicago (MBA and MA in Public Policy), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS), and Bard College at Simon's Rock. Elizabeth was raised and went to public school in New York's Hudson Valley.
Omar Lopez, Policy Analyst
Omar Lopez's passion for education reform started when he was part of the first graduating class of Beginning with Children School (now Beginning with Children Charter School) in Brooklyn. It was there that Omar developed a passion for education when he realized that a quality education could lead to quality opportunities as an adult. Unfortunately, Brooklyn (and as it turned out, many other places in the United States) had an overwhelmingly limited number of quality schools for its children to attend. And thus, his mission to provide quality education for all children began.
Omar graduated from the College of Saint Rose in 2008 where he earned his bachelor's degree in English Secondary Education. He then went on to pursue a master's degree in Education Policy and Management from Harvard University.
Prior to joining Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) in the summer of 2011, Omar taught 9th/11th Grade English at Williamsburg Charter High School and 5th Grade English Language Arts at Community Partnership Charter School - both in Brooklyn, NY.
Though his roles have changed over the years, the fight is the same: provide a quality education for every child. As Omar can attest to through his experience as a teacher, demography is not destiny.
