Charlie joins the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools as Senior Director of State Advocacy and Support, working toward improving public charter school laws across the country and supporting the growth and expansion of high-quality public charter schools. Formerly, Charlie served the state of Tennessee as the Assistant Commissioner of Policy & Legislative Affairs for the Department of Education and Governor’s Office. In this role, he successfully executed the passage of 13 administration education bills, highlighted by the historic passage of major reforms including: The Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act (a full overhaul of Tennessee’s K-12 funding formula for the first time in 30 years); The Literacy Success Act (foundational reform of early literacy instruction, teacher preparation, and funding supports); and The Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act (permanently established summer learning camps and tutoring opportunities for at-risk students). Charlie began his career as a start-up employee of Rocketship Education, where he helped drive overall national expansion efforts by leading growth strategy, policy and legislative advocacy work, and the writing and securing charters. Charlie graduated from Pomona College with a bachelor’s degree in History, and received his Master’s in Public Policy from Vanderbilt University. Charlie has spent his career working in education reform due to his concern with eliminating the achievement gap, the systemic effects of poverty on society, and education’s role in alleviating these ills. He also moonlights as a recreational hockey player, desperately clinging to the hope of an NHL call-up.

Adam Emerson is the Executive Director of the Office of K-12 School Choice at the Florida Department of Education. In this role, Adam oversees and administers all state-level school choice programs, including charter schools, home and private education, the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, and the Family Empowerment Scholarship. Prior to that, he served as the Department’s charter schools director providing oversight and assistance to a sector of public education that now numbers more than 700 charter schools. Before joining the Department in 2014, Adam managed the policy program on charter schools and school choice at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy think tank in Washington. D.C.

Jim Griffin is with Momentum Strategy & Research, a Colorado organization strengthening the nation’s charter community through collaborative research. Mr. Griffin leads the organization's strategy & policy efforts in areas such as public sector accountability systems, performance measures for atypical students and schools, and charter school facilities. Before Momentum, Mr. Griffin was the founding leader of the Colorado League of Charter Schools. He spent nearly 19 years in that position shaping Colorado’s charter school landscape and playing a key role in launching groundbreaking efforts and organizations, both locally and nationally – from accountability and legal advocacy, to facilities financing and group purchasing.

Mark manages a community of practice for charter school facilities professionals with a FRED Conference and FRED Talks. He works with schools, lenders, and advocates to improve the facility ecosystem. Mark managed the Charter School Facility Center at the National Alliance and helped launch Equitable Facilities Fund. He started his education work at the KIPP Foundation when it began its national expansion.