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

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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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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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Finance Director - 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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Field Director - Patrick van Keerbergen

Patrick van Keerbergen is an experienced political organizer with close to a decade of experience in New York City and State government and politics. He has worked for DFER since March 2009 as our National Field Director.

In 2009, Patrick served as the Manhattan field director for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's successful reelection campaign. In this role he oversaw a robust field campaign, that resulted in close to 160,000 votes for the Mayor's reelection.

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Director of Teacher Advocacy - Jocelyn Huber

Jocelyn Huber began her career in education as a Teach for America corps member.  As a teacher in a rural public school, she saw firsthand the lifelong challenges that face students who are denied access to a consistently excellent education. 

From 2004 to 2007, Jocelyn served as the Grants Manager for The NEA (National Education Association) Foundation, where she evaluated proposals for instructional and professional development projects submitted by public school teachers throughout the country.

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Communications Coordinator & Legislative Liaison - Devin Boyle

Devin joined Democrats for Education Reform in June 2010. Prior to her role at DFER, she worked as a Marketing and Communications Manager at a marketing firm in Arlington, Virginia.

Her passion for education reform stems in part from her work as a volunteer tutor for Reach Incorporated at Hyde Leadership Public Charter School in Washington, DC.

National Operations Director - Myles Mendoza

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As National Operations Director Myles is strengthening DFER's existing operational capacities and developing new outposts throughout the country. Myles works with State Directors and Advisory Boards to create efficient state programmatic agendas and evaluation systems to ensure states reach their goals. Overseeing national resources, Myles, under the direction of the policy team, works to create economies of scale across state lines to ensure that all dollars are spent at maximum value.   

He was most recently the Development Director at the Denver Scholarship Foundation and was instrumental in the foundation's transformation from a start-up non-profit to one of national fundraising prominence and visibility. Myles conceived and implemented an ambitious fundraising strategy.  His efforts helped to make it the sustainable organization it is today. 

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