Staff
Executive Director - Joe Williams
Joe Williams has built a reputation as one of the most effective strategists and coalition-builders in the education reform community. He is a nationally recognized analyst and public speaker on education policy and politics, reaching thousands of listeners in audiences from coast to coast each year.
Joe is also one of the most prolific writers and commentators in the education reform world, often tapping into his experience as a newspaper reporter and author to make the case for reform. He previously worked as an award-winning education journalist for the New York Daily News and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He has written extensively on education politics nationally and has served as a non-resident senior fellow for the Washington-based think-tank Education Sector. He is author of the book Cheating our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.)
Joe lives in New York City where his children attend the city's public schools.
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Chief of Staff - Brienne Bellavita
Brienne Bellavita joined Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) in the fall of 2007. Prior to her role as the Chief of Staff, Brienne served as the Program Director of DFER, working to build up the organization's programs promoting proven education reform policies and supporting local, statewide, and national champions of public education reform.
Previous to her work at DFER, Brienne worked for the City of New York as an Investigator at the Civilian Complaint Review Board, where she investigated allegations of police misconduct. As a civil servant, she developed the applied skills necessary to deliver on public sector challenges and gained invaluable experience working with many segments of the population.
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Director of Federal Policy - Charles Barone
Prior to joining DFER in early 2009, Charles Barone spent five years working as an independent consultant on education policy issues. His clients included the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights, Education Trust, and the National Academies of Sciences. In 2007, Barone authored the DFER briefing "Keeping Achievement Relevant: The Reauthorization of 'No Child Left Behind'".
Between 2001 and 2003, Barone served as Democratic Deputy Staff Director for the House Education and Labor Committee under Congressman George Miller (D-CA), prior to which he served as Miller's Legislative Director from 1997-2000. Barone first came to Capitol Hill as a Congressional Fellow in 1993 and subsequently became Chief Education Advisor to the late Senator Paul Simon (D-IL).
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Midwest Regional Director - Rodney Hubbard
Rodney is a former Missouri State Representative (D-58th District, MO) and was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in November 2002.
Rodney Hubbard joined Democrats for Education Reform in December 2008 as the organization's first Midwest Regional Director. A lifelong Democrat, his political legacy has been in two key areas: revitalization of the City of St. Louis and education reform. He is well known for working with Democrats and Republicans to improve public education and provide parents with high quality education opportunities. His new role will allow him to focus all of his time and energy on this issue.
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Director of State Legislatures - Ron Tupa
Ron Tupa is a former democratic state legislator who resides in Colorado, where he served a total of 14 years in the CO General Assembly from 1994-2008 before leaving office in 2009 due to term-limits.
Ron served on the House and Senate Education Committees throughout his entire legislative career, 6 years as a Representative and during the remaining 8 years in the Senate, where he also served in leadership as Democratic Caucus Chairman, Chairman of the Legislative Audit and State Affairs Committees, and Vice-Chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
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Office Manager - Beverly Francis
Beverly is a New Yorker by zip code, but a true Floridian at heart. Beverly joined the staff of Democrats for Education Reform in the Fall of 2008. Her passion for advancement in public education derive both from being a product of the public education system, and being surrounded by a family of educators.
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