About Us

The only thing Julie loves more than developing big, ambitious ideas is figuring out how to put them into action. She believes that systems are often the foundation on which equity is built and that every challenge can be untangled with the right people around the table. Discovering a process she developed years ago is still in place (and working well!), makes her day.

Julie was the Chief of Talent and Culture for DC Public Schools, the fastest improving school district in the country, until leaving the District after over a decade. As Chief, she oversaw the hiring of hundreds of teachers annually and increased compliance with local credentialing regulations 59% in one year. Julie has a strong background in talent acquisition and retention, systems improvement, and operational excellence. Prior to serving as Chief of Talent and Culture, she was Chief of Staff for three consecutive Chief Operating Officers. In this role, she helped each leader define his or her vision and worked with numerous teams to identify their strengths and areas where changes would improve performance and increase impact. She led substantial program and process redesigns across the organization in content areas including school operations, security, afterschool programming, school budgeting, student transportation, and more.

Julie has a Masters in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Arizona State University. She began her career teaching fifth grade and was inspired by her students to dedicate herself to ensuring all young people, regardless of their race, income, or ability, receive high quality supports from their schools and community.

Sara enjoys sifting through data for actionable nuggets and building equity INTO systems, especially where it has historically been lacking. She loves figuring out how things work, and imagining how they might work better. And she REALLY loves when all those things come together for awesome, mission-driven organizations.

Sara served for nine years behind the scenes at DC Public Schools working to support schools in the fastest improving urban school district in the country. Her expertise includes building systems and budgets for equity, improving financial management, and talent development. In each of her roles, she assessed existing processes and re-engineered them to improve the user experience, data quality, and ultimately improve outcomes for students. As Chief Business Officer, she led the financial strategy for the District and worked to center equity and other strategic objectives in the annual budgeting process. This included supporting the Chancellor and her deputies in making large, district-wide decisions and directly supporting the budgeting process for 116 schools and 12 central office departments. Specifically, she elevated the District’s work towards transparency and community engagement, creating new community resources and opportunities for input into the budget.

Sara holds an MBA from the George Washington School of Business and an Executive Masters in Leadership from the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in politics from Brandeis University. She has worked in many facets of education, from private extracurricular education to start up education technology to large-scale district work, and loves helping talented educators focus on their students by reducing the burden of administrative functions.