Howard Fuller

Marquette Institute

Director, EEP Board 

Howard Fuller's career includes many years in both public service positions and the field of education. Dr. Fuller is a Distinguished Professor of Education, and Founder/Director of the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The mission of the Institute is to support exemplary education options that transform learning for children, while empowering families, particularly low-income families, to choose the best options for their children. Immediately before his appointment at Marquette University, Dr. Fuller served as the Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools June 1991 - June 1995. Dr. Fuller became nationally known for his unending support for fundamental educational reform.

Dr. Fuller is also the Chair of the Board of the Black Alliance for Educational Options; the Chair of the Board of the Wisconsin Municipalities Private School Finance Commission; the Chair of the Board of the Alliance for Choices in Education in Milwaukee; and the Chair of the Board of CEO Leadership Academy. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Transcenter for Youth; the Johnson Foundation; the Big Picture Company; the Joyce Foundation; School Choice Wisconsin; Advocates for School Choice; The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; The Charter School Review Committee for the City of Milwaukee; the Wisconsin United for Health Foundation, Inc.

Dr. Fuller received his B.S. degree in Sociology from Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin, in 1962; M.S.A. degree in Social Administration from Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1964, and his Ph.D. in Sociological Foundations of Education from Marquette University.

Joel Klein

NYC Department of Education

Co-Chairperson, EEP Board

Joel I. Klein became New York City schools chancellor in July 2002 after serving in the highest levels of government and business. As Chancellor, he oversees over 1,600 schools with 1.1 million students, 136,000 employees, and a $21-billion operating budget.

When Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appointed Mr. Klein, a graduate of New York City public schools, as the first Chancellor of the newly-reorganized Department of Education, he called the new Chancellor “a true leader who never shies away from the tough and sometimes controversial decisions that are necessary to implement change.”

Mr. Klein’s comprehensive education reform program, Children First, is transforming the nation's largest public school system into a system of great schools. The first steps of the reform effort included ending social promotion in third, fifth, seventh, and eighth grades; creating a wide array of academic supports for struggling students; establishing new supports for parents, including putting a parent coordinator in nearly every school; and expanding small schools and charter schools to provide more high-quality educational options for students. The second phase of Children First involved restructuring the system, changing how schools are operated and supported, and giving principals greater control over how they run their schools while holding them accountable for results. These initiatives have made a real difference for New York City students -- achievement is up, students and families have more and better choices, schools are safer, and principals are more empowered.

Before Mr. Klein became Chancellor, he was chairman and chief executive officer of Bertelsmann, Inc., and chief U.S. liaison officer to Bertelsmann AG from January 2001 to July 2002. Bertelsmann, one of the world’s largest media companies, has annual revenues exceeding $20 billion and employs more than 76,000 people in 54 countries.

Mr. Klein was born in New York City on October 25, 1946. He attended the city’s public schools and graduated from William Cullen Bryant High School in 1963. He then received his BA from Columbia University, from which he graduated magna cum laude/Phi Beta Kappa in 1967. Mr. Klein went on to earn his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1971, again graduating magna cum laude. He is married to Nicole Seligman.

Dr. Michael Lomax

UNCF

Co-Chairperson, EEP Board

As president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), Dr. Michael L. Lomax heads the nation's largest and most successful minority higher education assistance organization. Through its headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia, and 24 field offices across the country, UNCF annually provides operating and program funds to its 39 member private historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and their 60,000 students. In addition, it manages more than 400 scholarship programs that support nearly 10,000 students at over 900 of the nation's colleges and universities. In the course of its 62-year history, UNCF has raised and distributed over $2.5 billion and has assisted over 300,000 students in earning undergraduate degrees. In 1999, UNCF received over $1 billion, the largest private gift to American higher education, from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to administer the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, which provides outstanding minority students with an opportunity to complete their undergraduate and graduate college educations.

Dr. Lomax joined UNCF after serving in a series of high-level academic and political positions. Immediately before joining UNCF, he served seven years as president of Dillard University in New Orleans.

Dr. Lomax went to Dillard after thirty years in Atlanta, where he pursued simultaneous full-time careers as a university professor and public servant. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Atlanta's Morehouse College (the alma mater of Dr. Martin Luther King) and, after receiving his M.A. degree from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in American and African American literature from Emory University, taught literature at Morehouse and Spelman Colleges and the University of Georgia.

At the same time, he became a prominent figure in Atlanta government and politics. He began his public service as an assistant to Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first African American mayor, and went on to serve as the first head of Atlanta's Bureau of Cultural Affairs. In 1978, he was elected to the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. Two years later, he became the Board's chairman, the first African American ever to hold that position and served in that position for twelve years.

Dr. Lomax is a trustee of Emory University, a member of the founding Council of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture, and a member of the Boards of Directors of Teach for America, The KIPP Foundation, The Carter Center, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Studio Museum in Harlem, The Bill T. Jones Dance Company and the National Black Arts Festival, of which he was founding chair. President George W. Bush appointed him to the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He has also received numerous awards including The Laurel Crowned Circle Award from Omicron Delta Kappa (2006), the distinguished Emory Medal, the Candle in the Dark award from Morehouse College and several honorary degrees.

Dr. Lomax and his wife, Cheryl Ferguson Lomax, have two daughters, Michele and Rachel. His oldest daughter, Deignan, graduated from Dillard University in 2000.

Janet Murguía

National Council of La Raza

Co-Chairperson, EEP Board

As someone who has experienced the promise of the American Dream firsthand, Janet Murguia has devoted her career in public service to opening the door to that dream to millions of American families. Now, as a key figure among the next generation of leaders in the Latino community, she continues this mission as President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States.

Since 2005, Murguía has sought to strengthen NCLR’s work and enhance its record of impact as a vital American institution. One of her first priorities was to harness the power of the nation’s nearly 50 million Hispanics and improve opportunities for Latino families by strengthening the partnership between NCLR and its network of nearly 300 community-based Affiliates which annually serve millions of people in 41 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Murguía has also sought to strengthen the Latino voice on issues affecting the Hispanic community including education, health care, immigration, civil rights, the economy, and the rise of hate rhetoric and hate crimes targeting the Latino community. In her role as NCLR’s spokesperson, she has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, NBC’s Today Show, CNN’s Larry King Live, PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360°, and CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight.

Murguía has placed special emphasis on turning Latino growth into empowerment through the Latino vote. In the 2008 election, NCLR along with its partners helped to register nearly 200,000 new Hispanic voters. Other initiatives and partnerships helped more than 1.5 million eligible immigrants apply for citizenship.

Murguía has also focused on strengthening NCLR’s relationship with sister civil rights and advocacy organizations. She has spearheaded efforts to build bridges between the African American and Latino communities in conjunction with organizations such as the NAACP and the National Urban League. She was the also first Hispanic leader to give the keynote speech at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Breakfast in Birmingham, Alabama.

Roy Romer

College Board 

Director, EEP Board 

Former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer recently assumed the role of senior advisor to the president of the College Board. In this role, Romer will work closely with the U.S. Department of Education, the nation's governors, chief state school officers and district superintendents to promote world-class standards in all schools. He will advocate on behalf of policies and programs that will create new standards, curricula, assessments and teacher professional development programs that are anchored in rigorous academic content that prepare all students for success in college and the 21st-century workforce.

Immediately prior to joining College Board, Governor Romer was Chairman of Strong American Schools, a nonprofit entity based in Washington, D.C., that advocates for higher academic standards, performance pay for teachers, and extended learning time. He was formerly Superintendent of Schools for the Los Angeles Unified School District. As Superintendent, he focused resources and attention on instruction and construction of schools. He advocated ambitious literacy and math plans that included computer-based learning programs and teacher training. As a result, scores in elementary school reading and math were above the national levels for the first time in decades.

Romer was Governor of Colorado for three terms, from 1986 to 1998, becoming the nation's senior Democratic governor, and was the general chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1997 to 2000. He was vice chair of the Democratic Leadership Council, an information-age think tank that examines national political and policy issues, where he studied effective educational strategies and school reform initiatives.

He served as chair of the Educational Commission of the States and the National Education Goals Panel. Romer was a legal officer in the U.S. Air Force and practiced law in Colorado. Romer earned his law degree at the University of Colorado.

Amy Wilkins

The Education Trust

Director, EEP Board 

Amy Wilkins is an experienced political and community organizer with a special skill in media communications. At the Education Trust, Amy serves as the Vice President for Government Affairs and Communications. In this capacity, Amy oversees the Trust's media, data, and government affairs and coalition work. She has sharpened her skills in advocacy over years of successful work for the Children's Defense Fund, the Democratic National Committee, the Peace Corps, and the White House Office of Media Affairs, among others. 

Joe Williams

Democrats for Education Reform

Treasurer, EEP Board 

After more than a decade of frontline newspaper reporting on education reform, Joe Williams has established a nationally-recognized reputation as a writer, contributor and speaker on cutting-edge education reform issues at the federal, state, and local levels. His most celebrated work was as author of the controversial book Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).

In June of 2007, Joe decided to make it his full-time job to implement the social change for which his investigative journalism had repeatedly called, and he was named Executive Director of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER). Williams identified with DFER's focus on building a powerful national coalition in support of meaningful education reform.

Joe knew from his research and writing that a political problem demanded a political solution--a solution that draws on all communities and community leaders who are committed to putting America's children first.

Joe previously worked as an award-winning education journalist for the New York Daily News. He also served as an education reporter with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where he won numerous local, state, and national awards for his coverage of the Milwaukee Public Schools and that city's groundbreaking school choice programs.

In addition to studying reform efforts in Milwaukee, Joe has completed exhaustive research on the challenges of individual school districts in cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, and San Diego. He has developed expertise on national education policy such as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, and on state issues such as the growing Charter School movement.

Joe has written in-depth pieces for the Hechinger Institute, the Thomas Fordham Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. He has served as a non-resident Senior Fellow at Education Sector, a non-partisan, Washington DC-based think tank.

Joe has contributed book chapters, articles and policy reports on numerous education-reform related topics, and for a variety of respected publications including: Education Next, Education Sector, and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government Press. 

Raul Yzaguirre

Arizona State University - Center for Community Development and Civil Rights

Director, EEP Board 

As the national civil rights movement burgeoned, Raul Yzaguirre emerged as a leading thinker in the Hispanic community. A funding proposal he helped craft for NOMAS led to the first comprehensive studies of the Mexican American community and their unique social, economic, and cultural issues. That same proposal served as the conceptual framework for what would become the National Council of La Raza. NCLR began as a regional support organization to help strengthen local Mexican American worker and welfare organizations, fight for fair employment laws and access to housing and health care, and promote voter registration.