Our Organization
Who We Are
Teach For America is a force of over 70,000 alumni, corps members, and Ignite Fellows working in over 9,000 schools nationwide. As a collective—educators, advocates, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and community members—we fight for the aspirations of students and their families. Together, we shape the conversation about what's possible. From classrooms to districts to statehouses across America, we’re reimagining education to realize the day when every child has the opportunity to learn, to grow, to influence, and to lead.
Significant progress in educational outcomes is happening in communities across the country. And the Teach For America network is playing an essential role.
Our TFA Network
Teach For America is a community of changemakers and coalition-builders. We are leaders who teach, teachers who lead. Our network is large and growing every day.
More than
4K
corps members
More than
66K
alumni
Nearly
2.2K
Ignite Fellows
Through teaching in our public schools and partnering with children and families in communities that are most in need, this network of changemakers is helping strengthen the education system and shape the future of our country.
Executive Team
Our executive team includes national and local leaders who have devoted their careers to ensuring educational excellence for all, several of whom are Teach For America alumni. Regardless of whether they started their career as corps members, our executives bring decades of experience from the education field and other fields that impact education.
Executive Cabinet
Elisa Villanueva Beard
Phoenix '98
Chief Executive Officer
Teach For America
Elisa Villanueva Beard is the CEO of Teach For America. Elisa’s passion for ensuring all kids get the education they need to succeed comes from personal experience. She grew up in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas and developed a deep commitment to Teach For America’s mission as a student at DePauw University, where she was one of just a few Mexican American students. Her journey with Teach For America started as a 1998 Phoenix corps member. Today, under her leadership, Teach For America corps members reach hundreds of thousands of students each year in nearly 2,000 schools across 37 states and the District of Columbia.
Jemina Bernard
President and Chief Operating Officer
Teach For America
Jemina R. Bernard serves as Teach For America's President & Chief Operating Officer, bringing over two decades of invaluable leadership and service in education. In this role, she is dedicated to leading the organization to make meaningful progress for students across the country.
Sunanna Chand
Greater Baton Rouge '10
Executive Director, The Reinvention Lab
Teach For America
Sunanna leads the Reinvention Lab, Teach For America’s future of learning R&D engine. The Lab creates offerings that expand the capacity of educators to create, build, imagine, and wonder, so that they can design engaging, relevant, learning experiences that are fair for all with and for young people. In a world of exponential technological and societal change, the Reinvention Lab helps TFA act our way into what’s around the corner.
Tracy-Elizabeth Clay
Executive Vice President, People & Administration
Teach For America
With a law degree from Harvard Law School, Tracy-Elizabeth Clay uses her knowledge of local and state policy advocacy, legal and risk management to support organizational needs to pursue Teach For America’s mission.
Rachel Evans
Baltimore '06
Chief Revenue and Development Officer
Teach For America
Rachel Evans has dedicated her career to exploring how relationships, communities, and institutions can shape us for the better. In her role as Chief Revenue and Development Officer, Rachel optimizes philanthropic partnerships and maximizes contributions to Teach For America’s impact.
Dr. Nathalie Henderson
St. Louis '03
Executive Vice President, Corps Member & Alumni Leadership Development
Teach For America
Dr. Nathalie Henderson serves as the Executive Vice President, Corps Member and Alumni Leadership Development for Teach For America, where she leads the full scope of the programmatic work for corps members from preservice to alumnihood.
Steve Majors
Executive Vice President, Chief External Affairs Officer
Teach For America
Steve Majors is the Chief External Affairs Officer at Teach For America. In this role, Steve leads 5 exceptional teams with his over two decades of extensive experience in communications, marketing, and media.
Alan Murray
Executive Vice President, Chief Digital & Technology Officer
Teach For America
Alan Murray is the Chief Digital & Technology Officer and leader of the Technology & Digital Experience group at Teach For America. He leads a dynamic team of digital and IT professionals through the division’s transformation, bringing an agile mindset and focusing on turning IT into a strategic engine for growth.
Joy Okoro
Greater New Orleans '08
Executive Vice President, Field Impact & Integration
Teach For America
Joy leads Teach For America’s regional teams and the executive leadership body, who are charged with ensuring our network of 5,000+ corps members (teachers), 60,000+ alumni and 1000+ staff members deliver on our promise to partner to create local change and expand educational opportunities for all students -- particularly Black students, Indigenous students, students of color and students living in poverty.
Whitney Petersmeyer
Executive Vice President, Growth
Teach For America
Whitney Petersmeyer is the Executive Vice President for Growth at Teach For America. She leads the work of the teams focused on scaling talent offerings through collaborative partnerships, addressing educational disparities and fueling Teach For America’s talent pool growth.
Dr. Barbara Logan Smith
Chief of Experience & Belonging
Teach For America
Dr. Barbara Logan Smith is the Chief of Equity & Belonging at Teach For America. With 25 years of dedicated service in education, in this role, she leads and directs a passionate team committed to amplifying the mission of Teach For America by fostering a sense of belonging and fairness for all, for all backgrounds.
Noemi Wierwille
New Jersey '01
Executive Vice President, Chief Learning Officer
Teach For America
Noemi Wierwille is a 2001 TFA New Jersey Alumna who has served as an educator and school leader inside and outside the United States. She uses her passion for education and experiences to help inform her leadership in driving programmatic improvements across org.
Regional Leadership Teams
Teach For America has more than 50 regions, each led by an executive director and an advisory board. To learn more about our regional leadership and regional boards, visit our individual region websites.
Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors plays a critical role in developing Teach For America’s strategic plan and ensuring that we are able to meet the ambitious goals we set for ourselves.
Lifetime Directors
Our Lifetime Directors have played a critical role on our national board for many years. We are deeply grateful for the ongoing advice, support, and advocacy that they continue to provide.
National Advisory Board of The Collective
The Collective is Teach For America's association for alumni of color. The National Advisory Board of the Collective is composed of alumni of color who help lead national initiatives and provide strategic guidance to Teach For America's senior leadership.