An unprecedented time in public education

Kevin Huffman is the founding CEO of Accelerate, a national initiative that seeks to embed high-impact tutoring and personalized learning in public schools. Prior to helping launch Accelerate, Huffman was a partner with City Fund, a philanthropic nonprofit, where he supported the efforts of local leaders in cities across the country working to create great public schools for all children. Huffman is the former Tennessee commissioner of education, where he managed the state department of education in its effort to advance the academic progress of nearly one million students. During Huffman’s tenure, Tennessee had the largest state gains on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Huffman began his education career as a first- and second-grade bilingual teacher in the Houston Independent School District. After attending law school, Huffman represented school districts, state departments of education and universities, working on policy and litigation matters at the Washington D.C. law firm of Hogan & Hartson. Huffman then joined the senior management of Teach For America in 2000, serving as the general counsel, the senior vice president of growth strategy and development, and the executive vice president of public affairs. Huffman has written opinion columns for a range of publications including as a regular contributor to the Washington Post. Huffman won the Post’s national writing competition to find “America’s Next Great Pundit” in 2009. Huffman graduated from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in English Literature, and from the New York University School of Law.

Naeha Dean is Chief Strategy Officer at Accelerate. Prior to joining Accelerate, Naeha was the Founder and Executive Director of the Camden Education Fund (CEF), a non-profit philanthropy supporting public schools in Camden, NJ. Naeha launched CEF after working for four years at the Camden City School District, where she served as Chief of Staff to Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard. Naeha began her career as a math teacher in New Orleans. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Luke Kohlmoos started his career at D.C. Public Schools working primarily on community engagement and communications. After his time at DCPS, he joined Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman’s transition team (and met his wife on his first day, thanks Kevin!) and ultimately stayed on at the Tennessee Department of Education. During his time at the TDOE, he worked on educator effectiveness through managing the Teacher Incentive Fund, worked as Chief of Staff for the Assistant Commissioner of Teachers and Leaders, and led the state’s work on teacher evaluation. In late 2015, he co-founded Instruction Partners where he worked until joining Accelerate in 2022.

Seth got his start as a high-school math teacher in the great city of Central Falls, RI. That’s where he created a financial literacy tool called Kolker Kash and a civics education program called How to Change the World. Seth worked as a community organizer, curriculum developer, and a policy advisor on the Education Policy Committee of the Biden-Harris campaign, before joining America Achieves to help develop and incubate Accelerate. He is a Schwarzman and Knight-Hennessy Scholar, has a bachelor’s from Yale and a master’s in education from Rhode Island College, and is a candidate for a JD-MBA from Stanford. Seth calls Rhode Island home.

Milagro serves as program director at Accelerate. She was previously an associate policy analyst at The Hunt Institute, where she supported state policymakers and conducted research and analysis on education policy issues across the continuum in North Carolina. Milagro holds a B.A. in Ethnicity and Race studies from Columbia University in the City of New York. While at Columbia, Milagro worked as a researcher, community organizer, and college access mentor. Milagro calls Virginia home, and she is an avid advocate for rural and multilingual children.