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George Pataki was born in Peekskill, New York and raised on his parents’ family farm. He is a 1967 graduate of Yale University and a 1970 graduate of Columbia Law School, both of which he attended on academic scholarships. Pataki served for 10 years in the New York State legislature.

Pataki was elected governor in 1994 and reelected twice by record margins. Pataki enacted over $100 billion in tax cuts, which created over 600,000 new jobs since 1995. Pataki’s welfare reforms reduced welfare rolls by more than one million recipients. He launched efforts to make New York a powerhouse in high technology research, job creation, and economic growth. The Center of Excellence, a high-tech biotechnology center, is at the heart of this effort and is anchored by major research centers throughout the state.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Pataki led New York through a time of mourning and remembrance, and on to recovery and revitalization. The centerpiece of his commitment to rebuilding lower Manhattan is an enduring, inspirational memorial that will pay tribute to those who perished on one of the darkest days in America’s history. Pataki also undertook efforts to attract new jobs and economic activity to lower Manhattan.

New York moved to the forefront of environmental protection under Pataki’s governance. The state is a leader in open space preservation, with nearly 1 million new acres protected since 1995. The governor played a strong leadership role in the clean-up of the Hudson River and Long Island Sound, and he helped to negotiate an historic agreement to protect the New York City Watershed. Pataki fought to enact more than 100 new laws to toughen penalties and close criminal-friendly loopholes causing crime rate to plunge for eleven consecutive years. New York has gone from being ranked the sixth most violent state in the nation to being ranked the sixth safest state and the safest large state in the nation.

Pataki and his wife Libby reside in Garrison, New York. They have four children, Emily, Teddy, Allison and George Owen.

Luke Gordy is executive director of the Arkansans for Education Reform Foundation, a 501c3 organization established to advance and support meaningful education reform. Gordy, 64, was a nine-year member and two-term chairman of the Arkansas State Board of Education. He joined the AERF after a 22-year career in banking and his passion continues to be supporting and improving public education.

Gordy is the former chairman and current member of the Board of Governors of REL-Southwest, one of the nation’s 10 regional education research laboratories. He also serves on the boards of Arkansas Business and Education Alliance, Economic Arkansas, and Accelerate Arkansas. In addition, Gordy serves as the education committee chairman for the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and on the executive committee of Economic Arkansas.

In 2004, Gordy was named as the inaugural recipient of the Advocate of Education Award from the Arkansas Association of Professional Teachers. He and his wife, Dr. Donna Gordy, founder and President of E2E Educational Consulting, reside in Little Rock.

Jim Peyser is a Partner at NewSchools Venture Fund’s Boston office, where he leads NewSchools’ city-focused investments. From 1999 through 2006, Jim served as Chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education. Prior to joining NewSchools, Jim was Education Advisor to two Massachusetts Governors, where he helped shape state policy regarding standards and assessments, school accountability, and charter schools. In 1995, he served as Under Secretary of Education and Special Assistant to the Governor for Charter Schools. He spent more than seven years as Executive Director of Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, where he helped to launch and support Massachusetts’ first charter schools. Prior to joining Pioneer Institute, Jim held various positions at Teradyne, Inc. in Boston, an electronic test equipment manufacturer.

In his role with NewSchools, Jim currently serves on the board of directors for Achievement First, Success Charter Network, and Uncommon Schools. He is also a member of the Board of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) and the Massachusetts Center for Charter Public School Excellence. Jim holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School (Tufts University) and a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University.

Mr. Fisher is President of Pisces Inc., an investment management company for the Fisher family. He is also a partner of Sansome Partners, the private investment partnership of the Fisher family. He sits on the board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco, San Francisco Day School and the Alliance for School Choice. Mr. Fisher is a graduate of Princeton University and Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. He and his wife live in San Francisco with their four children.

Randy DeHoff has served on the Colorado State Board of Education, representing the Sixth Congressional District. He was reelected to a second six-year term in 2004, and completed his term in 2010. He has served as Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the Board between 2001 and 2004, earning a reputation as a passionate, nonpartisan defender of quality public schools for all students, who works effectively to unite the efforts of all stakeholders to that end.

Mr. DeHoff has been active in public education for over a quarter century, since the first of his four daughters started kindergarten. His children have been educated in the local public schools, home school, and a charter school that he helped found.

After earning a B.S. in Physics from the University of Virginia, he served eight years active duty as a Naval Flight Officer, flying missions throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans. He moved to Colorado in 1984, working in the aerospace industry as a Systems Engineer and program manager on several successful missile and rocket launch programs.

In February, 2005, Mr. DeHoff left the aerospace industry to make public education his full time vocation as the Executive Director of the newly formed Colorado Charter School Institute, a statewide chartering authority.

Since joining the State Board of Education, he has served on several National Association of State Boards of Education study groups, as well as on the NASBE Board of Directors. He represented NASBE on the Steering Committee to revise the standards for the 2004 NAEP Math Assessment, and was nominated to represent NASBE on the new National Technical Advisory Committee on Assessment. The Colorado League of Charter Schools awarded him their Charter Friend Award in 2002.

Mr. DeHoff has further blended his background and interest in science and education through his membership in the American Association of Physics Teachers and the National Science Teachers Association, and as a founding board member of the Colorado Math, Science Technology, and Engineering Education Coalition (COMSTEC). He has authored numerous articles on education for local and national media.

Bill is the President of the Northeast Charter Schools Network (NECSN). He oversees the operations of NECSN and maintains a focus on grasstops advocacy.

Bill served in business development leadership positions with Beacon Education Management and SABIS Educational Systems. Prior to entering the charter sector, he worked as a marketing and new product specialist and a manufacturing supervisor with Texas Instruments, Inc. During that period he also served as a school board member in Massachusetts and, during his tenure, founded a regional charter school in Foxboro, MA.

Bill earned his Master’s Degree in Public Administration from George Washington University and a Bachelors of Science in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University.

As New Jersey’s Commissioner of Education, Mr. Cerf oversees 2,500 public schools, 1.4 million students, and 110,000 teachers in over 600 school districts. Between 2004 and 2009, he was Deputy Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education where he oversaw organizational strategy, innovation, labor relations and all matters pertaining to recruiting, supporting, developing and evaluating the nearly 80,000 teachers and 1,450 principals who work in the nation’s largest school district. Before assuming that role, he served as New York City Chancellor Joel Klein’s Chief Advisor on Transformation, where he led efforts to redesign the financial and organizational structure of the nation’s largest school district.

Commissioner Cerf served for eight years as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Edison Schools, Inc, which managed 150 public schools in 19 states and provided other educational services in an additional 700 schools in both the U.S. and Great Britain. He earlier served as Associate Counsel to President Clinton and as a partner in two Washington, D.C., law firms. A graduate of Amherst College and Columbia Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, Mr. Cerf served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. He graduated from the Broad Urban Superintendents Academy in 2004. Prior to attending law school, he spent four years as a high school history teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Dr. Sharpe is president of the Connecticut Charter School Association and founding member of the Legacy Project and Family Urban Schools of Excellence (FUSE). He also sits on the boards of the National Charter School Leadership Council, St. Agnes Home, Inc., the CT Chapter of Lupus Foundation of America and Connecticut Landmarks.

Dr. Sharpe began work at Jumoke Academy in 1998 and was appointed its CEO in 2003. Under his leadership, Jumoke Academy’s middle and elementary schools were cited for three consecutive years as one of the top ten performing urban schools in the State of Connecticut.

Jumoke Academy is committed to developing the whole child, and as such, offers programs that ensure our children become competent in the arts, humanities, civic and social responsibilities, and that they understand the value and importance of good character.

Jeb Bush was the 43rd governor of the state of Florida, serving from 1999 through 2006. He was the third Republican elected to the state’s highest office and the only Republican in the state’s history to be reelected.

During his two terms, Bush championed major reform of government programs in education and Medicaid. The state also launched and accelerated restoration of America’s Everglades, the largest project of its kind in the world, to save the habitat of 60 threatened and endangered species and provide a long-term supply of drinking water for 8 million people in South Florida.

Bush served as Florida’s secretary of commerce under Bob Martinez, Florida’s 40th governor. He also co-authored “Profiles in Character,” a book profiling 14 of Florida’s civic heroes — people making a difference without claiming a single news headline.

Bush earned a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He moved to Florida in 1981, where he started a real estate development company with partner Armando Codina.

Currently, Bush is the president of the consulting firm Jeb Bush and Associates and is on the boards of CNL Bancshares and Tenet Healthcare Corporation. In civic and charitable affairs, Bush serves on the boards of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, the Foundation of Florida’s Future, CASEnergy, Volunteer USA and Our Pledge. He and his wife, Columba, live in Miami and have three grown children. Bush is the son of President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush.

Fawn Spady is founder of the public affairs, marketing and media strategy consulting firm, Creative Empowerment, Inc. Her almost 30-year career in business marketing, promotion and public affairs initiatives has earned her national awards and recognition.

As marketing director for Daniel Smith Fine Art Supplies in the early 1990’s, she developed the marketing strategy that established Daniel Smith as the largest fine arts supply catalog in the country. Along with her husband, Jim, who is Vice President for the family’s business, Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants Inc., she has done extensive community outreach and marketing events and promotion. Fawn designed the recent record breaking multi-media and Facebook campaign to announce the first new store in 36 years. The community outreach programs; “Change for Charity,” and “Good Deeds Awards,” and the year-long 40th and 50th Dick’s Anniversary Celebrations have all contributed to Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants being named Seattle Magazine’s “Best Places to Work,” and earned the company a cover story in the Seattle Times Pacific Magazine.

She and her husband founded the Education Excellence Coalition to revitalize public education through legislative reforms based on increasing parental choice and competition. The Spadys ran two statewide initiative campaigns and worked with the State Legislature to improve public education over the past 16 years. Their work was recognized with a “Best Of Education Reform Award” from the Center of Education Reform, a national advocacy group in Washington, DC.

Fawn has served on the advisory board of the Puget Sound USO, Washington News Council, and The Institute for Justice, she helped found Women of Washington. In 2004 she ran for the State Legislature in the 41st District. Fawn is commentator on education and politics, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Seattle Times, and on all the local television networks and radio stations.
The Spadys have two children.