Maria Ferguson is vice president of policy at the Alliance for Excellent Education. Before joining the Alliance, Ms. Ferguson served as director of the National School Boards Foundation (the foundation), a nonprofit organization that works in conjunction with the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to strengthen and support school board leadership in states and local communities. In that capacity, Ms. Ferguson directed the foundation’s operations and initiatives and led the NSBA’s efforts to restructure the foundation’s stewardship plan, governance structure, and budget.

Before joining NSBA, Ms. Ferguson was a consultant specializing in research, communications, and strategic planning and worked with a wide range of clients including Target Corporation, Brookings Institution, the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Regional Education Laboratories, Sidwell Friends School, and several national foundations.

Before becoming a consultant, Ms. Ferguson was director of field operations for New American Schools. She worked with teachers and administrators, federal, state and local government officials, business and community groups, and other education stakeholders as they implemented exemplary models that focused school resources on effective teaching and greater student achievement.

Ms. Ferguson also served as a political appointee in President William J. Clinton’s administration. As director of communication and outreach services for ED’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, her efforts directly supported the national education agenda of President Clinton and U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley.

Ms. Ferguson began her career as a journalist, working as a photography editor for some of the nation’s leading journalism outlets, including Cox newspapers, the Associated Press, and U.S. News & World Report. Ms. Ferguson earned her BFA from New York University in 1986. She has also done MBA course work at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. She is a native New Yorker and now lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland with her husband and their two children.