Eucklan Matthews

Nathan Arnold previously served as Chief of Staff to the Acting Under Secretary and Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education. In those capacities he directed high-stakes policy initiatives, providing insight and guidance to the Under Secretary and Secretary of Education in the Obama and Trump Administrations. He helped lead the most recent administration transition in the Department, ensuring the continued delivery of Department services to the higher education community and...

Jennifer Castagna previously served as a Professional Staff Member for the Senate Minority (Republican) Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. In this capacity, Castagna helped oversee appropriations for the U.S. Department of Education, including pre-kindergarten through grade 12, special education, and higher education funding. Prior to joining the Senate Appropriations Committee, Castagna was a Vice President for Washington Partners LLC, a government relations firm primarily focused on serving clients interested in the area of...

With extensive background in providing legal, policy, strategic planning, and advocacy services to educators throughout the country, Mr. Coleman focuses principally on issues of access, diversity, inclusion, and institutional quality in post-secondary education.
Mr. Coleman is a 1984 honors graduate of Duke University School of Law and a 1981 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia. Mr. Coleman served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights from June 1997 until January...

Danielle Ewen has served in numerous leadership positions in child care and early education policy. She previously served as the Director of the Office of Early Childhood Education in the District of Columbia Public Schools, where she oversaw the operations of programs serving three- and four-year old children in high quality, comprehensive classrooms. Prior to her work in DCPS, Ms. Ewen served as the Director of the Child Care and Early Education team at the Center for Law and...

Joe Fretwell is a Policy Associate with EducationCounsel and has experience in education and anti-poverty policy at varying levels of government. He previously served as a Housing Policy Analyst with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs in Atlanta, Georgia, where he worked on policies incentivizing developers using the Low Income Housing Tax Credit to locate new affordable housing units in proximity to high-performing schools and to provide free tutoring, after school care, and workforce development services to residents of...

Dan Gordon formerly served the District of Columbia Public Schools as a senior advisor for school design; as deputy chief academic officer for college and career readiness, early childhood education, language acquisition, and out-of-school time programs; and as chief of staff to the chief academic officer. Previously, he was a lead English teacher at Columbia Heights Education Campus in Washington, D.C. He started his career as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s Educational...

Kristin Herrmann has worked in early childhood, K-12, and higher education federal policy for over 15 years. Previously, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in Legislative and Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education.  She spent over six years on Capitol Hill working for Senator Lamar Alexander as his Senior Education Policy Advisor on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. She also served as Senator Mike DeWine’s education and child policy staffer. She began her career...

Ms. Holahan provides legal, policy, and strategic planning support to organizations on education policy matters with a focus on disability-related issues, special education, school climate and discipline, and the advancement of innovative strategies to improve student outcomes, particularly in high-poverty, low-performing schools. Previously, Ms. Holahan was Managing Attorney of the Children-at-Risk unit of Connecticut Legal Services, Inc., a statewide group of attorneys who advocated through systemic policy change and individual representation for improved access to quality education for...

Before joining EducationCounsel, Sandi Jacobs was the Senior Vice President for State and District Policy at the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). At NCTQ, she oversaw all teacher policy work, including direct work with states and testimony and presentations for national and local audiences. She also developed and managed NCTQ’s comprehensive State Teacher Policy Yearbook. Prior to that, Ms. Jacobs worked at the U.S. Department of Education as a Senior Education Program Specialist for the Reading First and...

Samantha Kobbah is a Policy Associate at EducationCounsel with a range of experiences in nonprofit organizations, state and local education agencies, and K-12 education. Previously, she served as a Public Policy Fellow at the DC Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME) where she led the implementation of several mayoral initiatives including efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism and to support the safety of DC students as they travel to and from school.
Samantha began her career in Cleveland, OH...

Bethany Little is a Principal at EducationCounsel, LLC where she supports foundations, education associations and other nonprofits with support in advancing improvements in education outcomes from early childhood through higher education. Little has spent twenty years working in government and non-profit organizations, including the White House, where she was education advisor to President Clinton and Vice President Gore on the Domestic Policy Council, and the U.S. Department of Education. In the U.S. Senate, she served as Chief Education Counsel...

Davida McDonald has served in various roles in the early childhood field.  She previously was a Senior Manager on the National Policy Team and the Ounce of Prevention Fund and served as a Senior Advisor for Early Childhood Development in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Ms. McDonald was also Director of State Policy at the National Association for the Education...

Prior to joining EducationCounsel, Jessi worked as a Policy Advocate for Generation Progress, the youth engagement arm of the Center for American Progress. Jessi’s work focused on addressing the issue of college academic preparedness after high school graduation, higher-education affordability, accessibility, and quality, to ensure that all individuals are able to obtain a college education without the burden of financial hardship.As an advocate for students, she served on the Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking committee which established the Revised Pay...

Prior to joining EducationCounsel, Candice Nelson worked in higher education administration as the Graduate Assistant for Retention and Recruitment for the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, where she worked on coordinating and operating the visits of prospective students. She also worked as an intern for Duke University’s admissions office, supervising and coordinating tour guides as well as assisting in class yield and demographic data collection.  Ms. Nelson also worked as an intern...

Mr. Palmer provides policy, legal, strategic planning, and advocacy services to education leaders across the country, including state/national policy counsel and federal advocacy before the White House, U.S. Department of Education, and Congress. He works on a wide range of major reforms, from designing K-12 policies that promote college and career readiness, to building comprehensive birth-to-five early learning systems, to promoting access and diversity in higher education. Mr. Palmer previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at...

Erin Patterson is a Senior Policy Associate with EducationCounsel. Her background in education policy and practice includes experience in the non-profit sector, philanthropy, federal policy, and as a classroom teacher. Erin was previously a Program Associate at the American Youth Policy Forum, a D.C.-based education policy convener. Her portfolio included projects to align youth-serving systems and enable a continuum of success for students from K-12 to postsecondary and the workforce. She authored and co-authored several briefs and publications, convened...

The EducationCounsel leadership team includes former U.S. Secretary of Education and former South Carolina Governor Richard Riley. During his tenure with the U.S. Department of Education, Secretary Riley helped launch historic education initiatives to raise academic standards; improve instruction for the poor and disadvantaged; increase parental and business involvement; establish afterschool academic enrichment programs; support training and professional development for teachers; expand grants and loans to help more students attend college; foster international education; prepare young people for...

Sandy Rinck serves as a Special Advisor to Secretary Riley, representing him on public education and other matters in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere in the nation. With experience in the Legislative and Executive branches of government, as well as in the private and nonprofit sectors, she serves clients seeking information, access, and strategic advice regarding education and other government programs, policies, procedures, and personnel. Her network spans the education spectrum and other government-related people and entities.

Joaquin Tamayo, a former high school teacher, principal and federal policymaker, is a Senior Policy Advisor at EducationCounsel, leading on projects related to advancing the science of learning and development to drive equity, improvement, and excellence in US public education. Previously, Joaquin co-founded and was National Director of the Middle School Kindness Challenge at Stand for Children, designed to improve school climate and social emotional learning, as well as reduce unnecessary suspensions, by making the intentional teaching and fostering...

Emily Webb is a Senior Policy Associate at EducationCounsel with experience in K-12 education, post-secondary education, and national service. Previously, she served as a Legislative Fellow for U.S. Senator Richard Durbin where she advised the Senator on issues related to increasing access to and quality of post-secondary education, as well as national service initiatives. Emily was also a Senior Associate with the Urban Education Leaders Internship Program at D.C. Public Schools, an intern in the U.S. Department of Education’s...

Steve Winnick is experienced in federal education law and policy, particularly at the elementary and secondary levels, in postsecondary accreditation, and in the civil rights area, as well as in the federal ethics area. Mr. Winnick’s goal is to help states, school districts, and accreditation agencies leverage federal law to meet their educational goals and avoid compliance problems. He also engages in advocacy before the United States Department of Education. Mr. Winnick focuses on issues related to the No...

Prior to joining EducationCounsel, Sean Worley worked as a high school science teacher and instructional coach with DC Public Schools. He began his career in education as a 2013 Teach for America corps member in Sacramento, California. Sean has also served as an intern with the House Committee on Education and Workforce, where he worked extensively on monitoring state implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act.
Sean earned a Master’s in Education Policy and Leadership from American University, and earned...

Kathryn Young’s experience in education policy, practice, and research includes leadership and management roles; Capitol Hill and Executive Branch experience; advocacy strategy development; facilitation, technical assistance, and public speaking; and school program administration and classroom teaching. She previously served as director of National Education Policy for Jobs for the Future where she led federal and national education and youth policy efforts with a focus on secondary and postsecondary education and the workforce. She has served as a policy advisor...