Miah Daughtery, Ed.D. is the Executive Director of Literacy and Professional Learning at Odell Education and former Director of ELA and Literacy at Achieve.

A focused and passionate educator, Miah has more than ten years’ experience at the classroom, district, and state levels. Miah completed her doctoral studies at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College, obtaining an Ed.D in Educational Administration and Public Policy.

Richard Nash is a Vice President of PayPal, leading the Global Government Relations Group, comprised of teams based in the North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. Richard leads PayPal’s work on key legislative and regulatory issues across the globe, focusing on emerging FinTech public policy.

His work includes collaborating with, and informing global governments on the development of modern financial services regulation and legislation; additionally, his team manages PayPal’s contributions to discussions on consumer protection, cross-border trade expansion, intellectual property protections, cybersecurity and data protection. Prior to joining eBay Inc., Richard ran the Brussels office of European public affairs consultancy Political Intelligence. In addition, he was Secretary General of the European Internet Services Providers Association from 2005-2008. Richard began his career with a German law firm, based in Freiburg (Germany), having studied law in the UK and Austria.

Richard speaks fluent German and Spanish. He resides in Washington, DC with his wife and son.

Susan Gerock is the Vice President, Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at Washington REIT. In her capacity, she is responsible for the leadership, integrative management and direction for company information systems including corporate-wide planning, budgeting for information technologies and coordination and integration of all company information technology matters.

She has over 25 years of management and information technology experience in commercial real estate, manufacturing, and retail. Susan holds an undergraduate degree in Government from The College of William & Mary and holds a Master of Science, Management of Information Technology degree from the University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce.

She is active in numerous initiatives focused on young people, including having served as a Big Sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake, volunteering with SafeShores DC, and serving as a Side By Side Investor with ACT for Alexandria.

Jennifer Thorpe-Lewis is a retired senior commissioned officer who served in the active-duty Air Force for over 22 years. During that time, she held positions of authority within the acquisition career field, nationally and internationally, including contracting officer, joint service officer, and commander. She also earned a BA in Business Administration from Howard University, a MS in Contracting Management from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and a MS in Military Operational Arts and Science from the Air Command and Staff College.

In recent years, Jennifer has held positions of leadership within several educational institutions, where her children attend, including parent working group co-chair at a DC public elementary school and president of the parent-faculty association at a DC public charter school, where she has overseen budget execution in excess of $70K.

W. Ralph Eubanks is the author of Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey Into Mississippi’s Dark Past (Basic Books), which Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley named as one of the best nonfiction books of 2003.

A graduate of the University of Mississippi (B.A.) and the University of Michigan (M.A., English Language and Literature), he is a recipient of a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and has been a Fellow at the New America Foundation. From 1995 to 2013, he was Director of Publishing for the Library of Congress and is the former Editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review at the University of Virginia.

He is currently a Visiting Professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi, and at work on a book about Mississippi’s literary heritage. Ralph lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and three children.

Abigail Smith is a partner at Hogan Lovells in Washington, DC. Clients rely on Abigail to advise on a wide range of securities offerings. She helps public companies and foreign private issuers with corporate governance and ongoing discloser obligations under U.S. federal securities laws. Her experience includes public and private U.S. and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and reorganizations. Abigail holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from Vanderbilt University.

Mary Kate Mullaney is the senior director, financial and executive communications for GE. In this role, she has worked closely with GE’s executives and teams from across the world to demonstrate GE’s transformation through a period of significant company and market change. She is responsible for communicating with media, employees, and other stakeholders on GE’s strategy, financial performance, and M&A activity, as well as building messaging and engagement strategies for GE’s CEO and leadership team.

Mary Kate has a strong background in media relations, executive communications, public affairs, and thought leadership with experience across GE’s businesses and regions, including leading communications for the planned spin-off of GE Healthcare, developing the external affairs strategy for the merger and public company launch of Baker Hughes and GE Oil & Gas, creating GE Africa’s first region-wide sustainability program, and building research and events on GE’s global public policy priorities. Previously, she supported digital product development at Major League Baseball Advanced Media and editorial content and planning at Global Policy Journal and World Policy Journal.

Mary Kate earned an MSc in international political economy at the London School of Economics and a B.A. in political science from Providence College. She lives in Boston with her husband Mark, son Lincoln, and dog Windy.

Aneesha Badrinarayan is Director of Assessment Initiatives at the Learning Policy Institute, where she leads projects related to math, ELA, and science performance assessments. For the last decade, her work has focused on supporting states, districts, and educators to develop and implement student-centered systems of assessment that support all learners. Her passion for coherent and balanced systems of assessment stems from a commitment to high-quality teaching and learning for all and a deep interest in helping practitioners and leaders navigate their systems to achieve that vision. Prior to LPI, she was the Director for Special Initiatives at Achieve, a museum professional, and a neuroscientist. Aneesha earned a M.S. in Neuroscience at the University of Michigan, where she served as a research fellow for the National Institute of Mental Health, and a B.A. in biology from Cornell University.

Jill Dowell enjoys a career in federal government relations concentrating on health care, tax, and trade issues. In her 25+ years in DC, she has represented corporations and national trade associations before policymakers both in the Administration and in Congress. When not working, Jill lives for baseball season (cheering on both the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros), reading, and experimenting in the kitchen. She is a graduate of Baylor University and majored in Political Science and Journalism.

Kelly O’Shields is Vice President, Finance at Elme Communities, a multifamily-focused real estate investment trust. In this role, she is responsible for managing the financial planning and analysis, capital markets, and treasury functions of the company. Prior to assuming this role, Kelly was the Director of Property Accounting, then served as a project manager for the transformation of Elme Communities into an apartment operator and helped build the operational platform now used today. With over 13 years of experience in accounting and finance, her previous roles at E*TRADE and PwC included a focus on financial statement audits and controls, policy development, and enterprise transformation project management. She is passionate about people, processes, technology, and teams. Kelly holds a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Florida and is a certified public accountant.

Matthew Bressler is a Principal at TDF Ventures and brings prior experience investing in and working with startup and growth stage companies. Prior to TDF, Matt worked with GE Ventures supporting investments and strategy in intelligent environments. Matt also served as the Director of Investments for the Wharton Social Venture Fund and as an Associate for FOUNDER.org, investing and assisting early-stage startups. Matt started his career as a management consultant for Oliver Wyman where he focused on growth strategy in a diverse set of industries including consumer electronics, transportation, energy, and healthcare IT.

Matt graduated cum laude with a BA in Mechanical Engineering from Yale University and earned his MBA with honors from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Tait Sye is a veteran communications strategist with more than fifteen years’ experience in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. He is currently a senior director with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Previously, Tait was a political appointee for President Obama, serving at Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs in the US Department of Health and Human Services. Tait also recently co-founded, with his brother, a family foundation that provides impact grants focused on food justice. Tait holds both a Master’s degree and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.