Will Burns is the Executive Vice President of National Advocacy and the Executive Director of the Charter School Action Fund. Before joining the National Alliance, Will managed government relations and public affairs for Airbnb and subsequently Spin. Prior to entering the private sector, he served in the Chicago City Council and the Illinois House of Representatives where he advanced public policies that promoted equity, reduced poverty, and increased opportunity. He had a strong interest in education funding and ensuring access to high-quality public schools—including charter schools.

Pete Kirkham has over 25 years of experience on Capitol Hill and serving clients through his firm, Red Maple Consulting. Prior to entering private practice, Pete served as chief of staff to Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) and later as executive director of the National Republican Campaign Committee when Mr. Cole was its chairman.

Joanne Weiss is an independent consultant working with state education agencies, nonprofit organizations, foundations, and investors to design policies, practices, products, and services that promote equity and excellence in education. She focuses largely on issues related to pK-12 teaching and learning, including standards, curriculum, professional learning, and assessment. Joanne has held top leadership roles in federal government, venture philanthropy, and edtech. From 2009-2013, Joanne served in the Obama Administration as chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and director of the federal Race to the Top program. Prior to that, Joanne was the Chief Operating Officer and Managing Partner at NewSchools Venture Fund. She began her career in ed tech – first leading curriculum R&D, then leading companies that pioneered technology-based approaches to solving teaching and learning challenges in K-12 and higher education. Joanne is an Expert-in-Residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab; a Fellow for Georgetown University’s FutureEd; a Trustee for the National Council on Education and the Economy; a Director of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; a former visiting professor in education policy at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs; and a fellow in the inaugural cohort of the Aspen/Pahara Education Leadership Fellowship. She holds a degree in biochemistry from Princeton University and lives with her husband in Washington, D.C. For more information, see www.weissassociates.net.Joanne Weiss is President of Weiss Associates, which consults with organizations on education programs, technologies, and policy. She focuses on driving systems-level education change through high-impact policymaking, grantmaking, and implementation. She works primarily with state policymakers, national nonprofit service providers, curriculum developers, school systems, and foundations. From 2009-2013, she served in the U.S. Department of Education, first as director of the Race to the Top Program, then as chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Joanne was a partner and chief operating officer at NewSchools Venture Fund, where she focused on investing in and supporting a variety of charter management organizations, human capital solutions providers, and academic tools and systems designers. Prior to NewSchools, Joanne spent twenty years pioneering ways to increase the effectiveness of teaching and learning—as VP of curriculum R&D, then as CEO—for companies providing technology-based products and services to underserved students in K-12 and higher education. She has a degree in biochemistry from Princeton University and lives in Washington, D.C. Weiss serves on the Board of Directors of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

Christy Wolfe is the Senior Vice President for Policy, Research and Planning for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. She has more than 20 years of experience working on federal education policy, and has been a strong advocate of charter schools ever since her first visit to a charter school in 1998 for a U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce field hearing. Christy spent eight years at the U.S. Department of Education, serving as the associate deputy secretary for policy. In this role, she managed policy development and implemented regulations for all federal elementary, secondary, and special education programs. Christy was also a professional staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce, where she worked on major education legislation, including the No Child Left Behind Act.