Ross Wiener is the Executive Director of the Education and sSociety Program at the Aspen Institute.

From 2002 to 2009, Ross worked at the Education Trust, a national, non-profit organization dedicated to raising standards and closing achievement gaps in public education. As policy director and then as vice president for program and policy, Ross managed the Education Trust's research/data analysis, policy development, conference programming, and technical assistance to educators and policymakers in both K-12 and higher education. Prior to directing the program and policy work at the Education Trust, Ross served for five years as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Educational Opportunities Section, where he represented the United States in cases dealing with desegregation, harassment, and the adequacy of services to limited-English proficient and disabled students.

Ross is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received a law degree with high honors from the George Washington University Law School.  He clerked for Judge Kermit Lipez of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Contact: ross.wiener@aspeninstitute.org

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Nancy Pelz-Paget is the Director of the Education and Society Program at the Aspen Institute and was principal in its founding.

Nancy served as a public television executive and returned to education as Director of Policy Programs and as an advisor to the Council for Aid to Education (then a subsidiary of the RAND Corporation) on the College Learning Assessment program in higher education. She was responsible for organizing and executing policy forums with state, education and business leaders on reform in higher education based on the RAND report on "Breaking the Social Contract: The Fiscal Crisis in Higher Education." Subsequently, she returned to the Aspen Institute to re-start the program on Education and Society. Ms. Pelz-Paget also currently serves as an advisor to the Richardson Foundation Forum on the future of teacher preparation in Texas. In addition, she is on the advisory boards of the Center for Research, Evaluation and the Advancement of Teacher Education (CREATE), a Consortium of Texas A&M University System and the UT System, the three largest producers of teachers in Texas; the Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association; and Wireless Generation. 

Contact: nancypp@aspeninstitute.org

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Joaquín Tamayo is the Assistant Director of the Education and Society Program at the Aspen Institute.

Before joining Aspen, Joaquín served as high school principal with the César Chávez Public Charter Schools in Washington, DC, at their Capitol Hill campus.  At Chávez, Joaquín worked to design a unique approach to curriculum that centers instruction in all courses around César Chávez's core principles of nonviolence, community organizing, and social justice.  In 2005, Joaquín founded the Urban Assembly Academy of Government and Law (AGL), a small, government and law-themed high school in New York City's Lower East Side.  An Empowerment School within the NYC Department of Education, the mission of AGL is to educate students at all levels of ability for admission to and success in college and the professional world.  With support from a dedicated staff and a portfolio of school partners, including New York University School of Law, NYU Wagner Graduate School for Public Service, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, Jones Day LLP, and the Henry Street Settlement, AGL graduated its first senior class in 2009, more than doubled the graduation rate of the school that AGL replaced, and sent 90% of graduates to college.  From 1998 to 2002, Joaquín served as a high school social studies teacher at Huntington Park High School (Los Angeles Unified School District). 

Joaquín holds a B.A. in political science from Columbia University and a master in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Contact: joaquín.tamayo@aspeninstitute.org

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Ariel Jacobs is the Program Associate of the Education and Society Program at the Aspen Institute.

At Aspen, Ariel manages a program that connects senior congressional education staff to the impact of policy and practice in the field. Prior to joining the Aspen team, Ariel was the program manager for civic engagement at the District of Columbia Education Compact (DCEC), where she focused on coordinating and aligning the work of the District's civic stakeholders and the public education agencies along an educational continuum for youth ages 0-24. Ariel began her career in urban public education as a Teach for America corps member in the South Bronx teaching 7th and 8th grade English and Social Studies. She then served as a founding staff member and Regents U.S. History teacher at PACE High School. Ariel has worked as a researcher and freelance consultant on municipal sales tax policy and education projects concerning instructional learning technologies and state school intervention strategies.

Originally from Wellesley, MA, Ariel received her B.A. in History from Macalester College. She holds a M.S. in Teaching Secondary Social Studies from Pace University and an A.M. in Education Policy and Community Organizing, Planning and Development from the University of Chicago where she was a McCormick-Tribune Urban and Community Leadership Fellow. Ariel is Vice President of Programming on the Leadership Team of the Young Education Professionals-DC (YEP-DC) and a 2011 New Leaders Council Fellow.

Contact: ariel.jacobs@aspeninstitute.org

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Sarah McKibben is the Graduate Intern for the Education and Society Program at The Aspen Institute.

Sarah is currently a master's student at American University, studying public administration with a focus on education policy. Before working with Aspen, Sarah coordinated the Business Environmental Alliance (BEA) for the Sonoma County Economic Development Board in Santa Rosa, California. With the BEA, she worked directly with small business owners to implement more sustainable operations, organized a conference of 400 local leaders in sustainable business practices, and facilitated a merger between the BEA and the Sonoma County Green Business Program. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Sarah graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in public policy studies. While at Vanderbilt, Sarah co-founded the Election Alliance, a nonpartisan group dedicated to campus voter engagement for the 2008 election. She also served as the community service director and music leader for Vanderbilt's Wesley-Canterbury Christian Fellowship. At American, Sarah currently serves as a content editor for the student policy journal, The Public Purpose, and coordinates outreach for the Graduate Environmental Policy Roundtable.

Contact: sarah.mckibben@aspeninstitute.org

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