Eucklan Matthews

Alisha Alli currently serves as an executive assistant at EducationCounsel. Prior to joining the team, Alisha served as the Financial Coordinator and Operations Manager of a multinational organization for over five years. During her tenure, she supported the Executive Director in managing the daily business activities. Alisha holds an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from ABE, UK, an Advanced Diploma in Project Management from the Institute of Commercial...

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...

Elysa Cash is a Policy Associate at EducationCounsel with a background in K-12 education research. Prior to joining EducationCounsel, Elysa taught math for six years, most recently with District of Columbia Public Schools. She also worked as a Pathways Intern with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where she examined data from the National Assessment for Educational Progress as it compared it to the increase in high school graduation rates across the country.
Elysa began her career in...

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...

Art Coleman is Managing Partner and co-founder of EducationCounsel LLC. He provides policy, strategic, and legal counseling services to national non-profit organizations, school districts, state agencies, and postsecondary institutions throughout the country, where he addresses issues associated with:

student access, diversity, inclusion, expression, and success;
faculty diversity, inclusion and expression; and
institutional accountability and accreditation.

Mr. Coleman previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, where, in the 1990s, he led the Department’s...

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...

Jasmine Jett is a Policy Associate at EducationCounsel, with experience in K-12 education and policy research. Prior to joining EducationCounsel, Jasmine served as a 2020-21 Texas Policy Fellow with Teach Plus. Jasmine began her career in education as a 2017 Teach for America corps member in Houston, Texas. She taught 5th grade science, and 2nd grade math and science, in HISD for several years. Jasmine is a former Policy and Advocacy Fellow with Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE) and...

Anne Katz is a Senior Policy Associate at EducationCounsel with experience in federal and state advocacy, policy research and K-12 education. In her previous role, she advocated on behalf of university, nonprofit, municipality, and corporate clients at the federal level on a wide-ranging portfolio of policy, budgetary, and regulatory issues. Anne also served as a Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE) Fellow with New America’s Early & Elementary Education team, where she focused on financing strategies for early educators seeking...

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...

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...

Rachel is a senior legal and policy advisor for EducationCounsel. She has experience in the education and legal industries having served as a teacher, school principal, prosecutor, and as an adjunct professor at three graduate schools.  Rachel served the New Jersey Department of Education as a policy advisor and Confidential Assistant to the Commissioner of Education where she worked on a myriad of issues including school finance reform,  school desegregation, diversity and inclusion, early childhood education reform, Title I...

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.

Vasilisa “Lisa” Smith is a Policy Associate at EducationCounsel. Prior to her role at EducationCounsel, she taught elementary special education in Chicago, IL. She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching, as well as a Master of Public Policy degree. Her policy experience centers around K-12 education, special education policy and education finance, while her advocacy experience ranges from increasing access to the ballot and protecting reproductive rights. She has previously served as a press intern for Senator Jeff...

Sean Worley is a Policy Advisor with EducationCounsel and supports clients navigate the often rapidly evolving federal landscape. Sean works in partnership with clients to successfully advance their equity-focused priorities related to early childhood education and K-12 education. As a former advisor to a school-based Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), Sean takes special pride in advancing work to create more inclusive, equitable, and affirming environments for LGBTQ+ students and educators.
Prior to joining EducationCounsel, Sean worked as a high school science teacher...