About Jen

Jennifer Bronson serves as Managing Director of Learning Programs at Accelerate. In this role she works with Accelerate’s portfolio of grantees to understand emerging best practices in individualized instruction and builds programming for Accelerate’s Community of Practice to share research, explore implementation challenges, and understand the K-12 policy landscape.

Prior to joining Accelerate, Jennifer most recently served as Executive Director of Chattanooga 2.0, the cradle-to-career collaborative of Chattanooga-Hamilton County, Tennessee. Before leading Chattanooga 2.0, Jennifer served as Chief of Staff for Hamilton County Schools, where she led the school system’s COVID-19 response and launched a Student Success Planning pilot in partnership with Harvard University’s Education Redesign Lab and the By All Means consortium. Jennifer began her career as an elementary school teacher through Teach for America in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she went on to work in talent and leadership development for Clark County Schools, the nation’s fifth-largest school district.

Also an attorney, Jennifer served as an assistant public defender in St. Louis, Missouri and is admitted to the State Bars of Wisconsin and Missouri. During her legal career, she worked with the Wisconsin State Public Defender Juvenile Unit and was a judicial intern in the Wisconsin State Supreme Court.

Jennifer earned her bachelor’s degree and Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she received the Wisconsin Idea Merit Scholarship. She also received a master’s degree in education from the University of Nevada – Las Vegas.

What is your favorite part about the work you lead at Accelerate?

My favorite part of being Managing Director of Learning Programs is witnessing the diverse ways our grantees meet all students right where they are. From states to place-based providers, I have the privilege of working with mission-aligned, passionate educators and learning about their instructional approaches. I’m lucky to collaborate with an incredible internal team while engaging with a rich variety of programs externally. But the absolute best part? School visits – and seeing student learning happen in real time. I’m energized by our partners, their students, and their commitment to ensure every student has access to an excellent, tailored education.

Ask me about…

I’m a mom of three kids eight and under, so my “interests” include managing family chaos, shuttling to activities, attempting to stay active, and routinely biting off more than I can chew!

About Sarah

As Executive Administrator at Accelerate, Sarah supports organizational effectiveness for the Accelerate team and its leadership by strengthening executive operations, administrative functions, and external engagement. She works closely with the CEO and President to ensure that executive priorities, staff capacity, and organizational systems move forward smoothly and are optimized to further Accelerate’s mission and impact.

Before joining Accelerate, Sarah served as Special Projects Manager at CAIR-LA, a civil rights organization supporting policy advocacy, immigration, youth empowerment, and civil liberties in Southern California. In her role, she led the development and sustainability of grants management for the CAIR California chapters, overseeing more than twenty-five initiatives, strengthening organizational capacity, and ensuring programs meet needs and priorities across the state. Prior to becoming Special Projects Manager, she served as Executive Assistant to the Deputy Executive Director.

Her dedication and passion for student success began during her time as a project manager and mentor for a youth mentorship program in Boston, MA and as a kindergarten teacher for low-income students in the Greater Boston area. She is committed to expanding opportunities for young people and underserved communities.

Sarah received her B.S. in Biology from the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is based in Southern California.

What key experiences shape your perspective on education?

From receiving my parents’ constant support and encouragement towards pursuing academic excellence to guiding a 5-year-old in unlocking the magic of reading and his peer breaking the ceiling with advanced mathematics, every small win expounds into lifelong confidence, capability, and continued pursuit of better and greater. Education is the pathway to the road known and unknown for both the individual and the collective; but, it begins with consistency, equity, and stability. It is the catalyst for students’ growth to become a force that reshapes themselves, their families, communities, and systems meant to serve them.

Words to live by:

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” – Annie Dillard

About Jason

Jason Godfrey, PhD, is the Managing Director, Data and Information Systems at Accelerate. In this role, he works with partner organizations to develop the data infrastructure to understand which interventions are moving student outcomes. He co-leads the Call for Effective Technology to identify and evaluate promising AI-powered educational technologies. He directs the Harvard Strategic Data Project Fellows, senior state data leaders building infrastructure to understand and scale new educational programs. He founded the open source Data Alignment and Tutoring Assessment Standard (DATAS), which is now adopted by 26 organizations serving over 700,000 students.

Godfrey has authored or coauthored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and conference papers, spanning generative AI and human-AI collaboration; K–12 and higher education data systems; and equity in access to education. He serves as a reviewer for the NeurIPS Education Program, Human Computer Interaction, and AERA’s Division D. He sits on the Board for the Journal of Writing Analytics.

He earned his PhD from the University of Michigan’s Joint Program in English and Education, where his dissertation demonstrating that high-stakes placement policies relied on functionally inert data received the Dimond Best Dissertation Award. During his tenure he was a Regent, Rackham and OER fellow.

At the center of Jason’s work is nearly a decade of teaching experience, and he intentionally seeks ways to stay present in classrooms even as he leads at scale.

What is your favorite part about the work you lead at Accelerate?

Accelerate breezes through the work of organizations multiple times its size because every single person here is beautifully, compassionately, absurdly, ruthlessly good at their job.

About our partners who I most commonly interface with most often: Our Data Fellows give us byte-level insight into how state-level data systems operate under quotidian conditions. We may be one of the few organizations convening so many data leaders across the states for a common purpose. This allows us to literally set the standard for the field with operating case-studies baked in.

Words to live by:

Don’t hand me a thin straw when you know it’s a thick drink

About Kevin

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, Kevin 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.

Kevin 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 his tenure, Tennessee had the largest state gains on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Kevin began his education career as a first- and second-grade bilingual teacher in the Houston Independent School District. After attending law school, Kevin 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. He 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.

Kevin has written opinion columns for a range of publications including as a regular contributor to the Washington Post. He won the Post’s national writing competition to find “America’s Next Great Pundit” in 2009.

Kevin graduated from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in English Literature, and from the New York University School of Law.

What key experiences shape your perspective on education?

As a classroom teacher in Houston with Teach For America, I saw the gulf between my students’ talent and their opportunities. This radicalized my perspective on American public schools and the need to focus relentlessly on ensuring that all students have the chance to succeed academically and expand their life prospects. Years later, as the state commissioner in Tennessee, I saw first-hand how change can happen at scale when there is a common focus and strategy. This has fueled my belief that we can improve student outcomes in states across the country. And, if we can, then it becomes a moral imperative to actually do it.

Words to live by:

“Try to realize it’s all within yourself, no one else can make you change.” – George Harrison

About Luke

Luke Kohlmoos serves as Managing Director of Strategy at Accelerate, where he leads the organization’s knowledge-sharing work and helps connect learnings across research, policy, and program teams. His focus is ensuring that evidence is translated into practical, high-impact insights for the field — aligning what we know with what it actually takes to deliver for students.

Luke began his career at D.C. Public Schools, working on community engagement and communications during a period of significant improvement efforts across the district. He later joined Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman’s transition team, where, on his first day, he also met his wife (thanks, Kevin!). Luke went on to serve in several roles at the Tennessee Department of Education, including managing the Teacher Incentive Fund, serving as Chief of Staff for the Assistant Commissioner of Teachers and Leaders, and leading the state’s work on teacher evaluation.

In 2015, Luke co-founded Instruction Partners, supporting school systems in strengthening instructional materials, coaching, and classroom practice. After seven years helping build and grow the organization, he joined Accelerate in 2022 to help spin-off the organization into an independent non-profit. He returned to work full-time at Accelerate in 2025 after living in Spain with his family for two years. Luke now lives in Denver.

What is your favorite part about the work you lead at Accelerate?

My favorite part of the work at Accelerate is being part of an effort that helps the field learn faster and scale what works in ways that are both practical and sustainable. I’m drawn to the optimism behind Accelerate’s mission: believing that strong evidence, when translated well and matched with strong implementation, can genuinely make educators’ jobs easier and students’ experiences better. What keeps me motivated is seeing how shared learning can travel across systems and spark better decisions, ultimately helping great practices take root and grow.

Ask me about…

My poker playing days

About Tu-Quyen

Tu-Quyen serves as the Managing Director of Operations at Accelerate, and brings expertise in financial management, technology, and human resources.

Prior to Accelerate, she was the Vice President of Operations at Heights Philadelphia and the Chief Operating Officer at Steppingstone Scholars, where she led the operational and fiscal integration of a non-profit merger and supported the rapid growth of programmatic initiatives and partnerships across Philadelphia. During her tenure at Steppingstone Scholars, she oversaw university, city, and state grants and contracts, ensuring fiscal compliance and reporting, and facilitated the growth of the operational budget from $1.1 million to $12 million after the merger.

Tu-Quyen has also served as a regional director of admissions and associate director of opportunity and access for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania where she coordinated recruitment and yield efforts for underserved students. Her experience serving youth has deepened her commitment to work in areas and spaces that alleviate systemic barriers for historically disconnected populations.

Tu-Quyen holds a B.A from Colby College, and an MS.Ed. in Education, Culture and Society from the University of Pennsylvania.

What key experiences shape your perspective on education?

Having spent my early schooling years in Australia and then transitioning to high school in Philadelphia, I first began to see how the educational and career opportunities available to students shape who they become and what they can achieve. This understanding deepened as I worked closely with Dr. Sean Vereen at Heights Philadelphia, whose vision centers on building a network of opportunities and support systems for underserved students in Philadelphia. Watching students pursue and succeed in opportunities that might otherwise have been out of reach fundamentally shifted my perspective on education and on what it takes to ensure every student has the chance to thrive.

Ask me about…

I’m a DIYer at heart and my first inclination is always “Can I make that?.” I dream of having a flourishing garden but have had no luck keeping my houseplants alive.

About Aidan

As Program Coordinator, Aidan works to build and maintain fruitful working relationships with Accelerate’s grantees. He helps to oversee the grant programs through their full lifecycle from applications, to day-to-day communications and operations, to reporting and learning. He also supports the planning and facilitation of our Community of Practice as well as our Annual Convening to provide spaces for knowledge-sharing and problem-solving across agencies in the field.

Prior to joining Accelerate, Aidan was a Senior Associate, Data and Analytics at Springboard Collaborative, an education nonprofit that facilitates reading programs for students across the country. He supported the organization’s efforts to evaluate and improve their impact on student reading outcomes and developed impact reports to communicate that impact to school district partners and funders, just like Accelerate.

During his time at Springboard, Aidan was also selected to participate in Harvard’s two-year Strategic Data Project Fellowship, where he further honed his skills in translating data into action for education agencies. His project specifically uncovered which families and students were successfully building and sustaining at-home reading habits through Springboard’s programs and designed programmatic changes to support the families who were struggling with building that habit.

Aidan earned his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Princeton University and was the recipient of both the Howard Crosby Warren Junior and Senior Prize in Psychology. He is currently based in Philadelphia.

What key experiences shape your perspective on education?

Before she passed, my mom was a special education teacher working in a public school district just outside of Cleveland, Ohio, where I grew up. She instilled in me a deep commitment to ensuring that public education meets every child where they are and supports them in both their needs and goals. Since graduating from college, I’ve had the opportunity to contribute to organizations that are trying to make that philosophy of public education a reality. In many ways, my career is in honor of my mom and her own values that she passed on to me.

Ask me about…

Live music, podcasts, cooking, restaurants, and our national parks

About Narric

Narric Rome serves as Managing Director of Government Relations at Accelerate. In this role he works to advance Accelerate’s federal and state policy agenda and build effective partnerships with education stakeholders.

Prior to joining Accelerate, Narric was the Vice President of Government Affairs at Americans for the Arts where he led education policy initiatives for the creative sector focused on strengthening equity in public school, and out-of-school settings, and managed over 20 major fly-in events on Capitol Hill. At the state level, while at Americans for the Arts, he led a multi-year, multi-state grant program helping to advance the policy goals for state advocacy organizations. Narric also served as a legislative aide to Secretary Richard Riley at the U.S. Department of Education where he received the Peer Recognition Award.

Over the course of two decades, Narric led advocacy efforts impacting the No Child Left Behind Act, the Every Student Succeeds Act, and pandemic-era assistance programs. In 2019, Narric and his government affairs team were recognized by the Public Affairs Council with their Lobbying Strategy Innovation award.

Narric holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Vermont and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from Columbia University. He and his family live in Annapolis, MD.

What is your favorite part about the work you lead at Accelerate?

My favorite part of the work I lead at Accelerate is the chance to be both creative in policy and entrepreneurial in strategy. I get to work directly with states through our grant program, helping them design and refine high-dosage tutoring at scale, while also shaping national guidance and tools. I also collaborate closely with national education stakeholders and partners to advance coherent, scalable policy solutions. With each state pursuing its own path—and the federal government stepping back—there’s a real need for responsive, evidence-driven leadership. I love spotting advocacy opportunities, testing ideas quickly, and helping states turn research into policy solutions that move the field forward.

Ask me about…

Pizza, Phish and sailing

Dr. Matthew P. Steinberg serves as a Senior Fellow supporting Accelerate’s research projects.

Prior to joining Accelerate, Matthew was an Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy (with tenure) and Director of EdPolicyForward at George Mason University. Matthew’s research has addressed issues of educational significance at the intersection of the economics of education and education policy, including educator evaluation and human capital; accountability and urban school reform; education finance; and school safety and student discipline. Matthew’s work aims to inform local and national policy discussions on the impact of educational policies and practices on teacher effectiveness and the educational outcomes of students, particularly the most disadvantaged among the population.

Matthew’s research has appeared in leading education, public policy and economics journals. A recipient of the National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship, Matthew received his PhD in public policy from the University of Chicago. During his tenure as a doctoral student, Matthew was an Institute of Education Sciences Pre-Doctoral Fellow with the University of Chicago Committee on Education, a researcher at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research and a Mathematica Policy Research Summer Fellow.

Prior to graduate school, Matthew was an investment banker and a New York City Teaching Fellow.

About Nakia

Dr. T. Nakia Towns has a proven track record of raising the bar for all kids, closing opportunity gaps, increasing graduation rates, and improving postsecondary readiness. As President, Nakia serves Accelerate’s program, operations, and research functions. Nakia was previously the Deputy Superintendent of Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS), serving over 180,000 students in Georgia’s largest district, which is also the 11th largest in the country. In this role, she provided strategic direction to all divisions, with a focus on school improvement and operations as well as curriculum and instructional support. Nakia led transformative work in GCPS to pilot high quality instructional materials aligned to the science of reading and full implementation of whole child supports to achieve educational equity.

Before her appointment in GCPS, Nakia served as interim and deputy superintendent at Hamilton County Schools (HCS) in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she led the executive cabinet to ensure that the district’s strategic goals and objectives were met. Initially hired as chief of staff, her experience in business and engineering provided her the perspective to drive continuous improvement across all departments, leading HCS to become the fastest improving district in Tennessee.

Prior to joining Hamilton County, Nakia was Assistant Commissioner, Division of Data and Research, at the Tennessee Department of Education. During her time at the department, she served on the executive leadership team and helped set the strategic direction for PreK-12 educational policy through her work in developing the state’s highly regarded plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Towns, who believes that access to a high-quality public education is foundational to a thriving democracy, spearheaded her division’s efforts in promoting both equity and excellence in Tennessee public schools.

Nakia transitioned to education leadership at Knox County Schools where she rose to Chief Accountability Officer, responsible for evaluating and growing the district’s overall educational return on investment. Towns was instrumental in launching a new teacher leadership model and differentiated compensation plan as a director in human resources. This work facilitated her involvement in developing aspiring school leaders through the district’s partnership with the University of Tennessee Leadership Academy. During her tenure, Knox County Schools became the only large urban district to ever earn the state’s highest accountability designation and achieve a 90% graduation rate.

Nakia is respected nationally for her work in public education. She was selected for the Future Chiefs leadership development program by Chiefs for Change, as well as the Broad Residency in Urban Education by the Broad Center. She has worked as an associate adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University for the education doctorate program and as a practitioner advisor for the Annenberg Institute at Brown University’s EdResearch for Recovery project. Towns has served as an expert peer reviewer, keynote speaker, facilitator, and panelist for numerous conferences and initiatives to support the work of educators across the country.

Assuming roles of increasing responsibility at IBM, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo Bank, Towns began her career in the fields of technology and finance. While in the private sector, she co-founded a nonprofit after-school tutoring and intervention program in rural south Georgia, continuing her lifelong commitment to public education. Her work as a volunteer teacher in the Saturday-school program inspired her to pursue the field of education as her fulltime passion and profession.

At Duke University, Nakia completed a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and an M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business. She also earned an M.Ed. in educational leadership from The Broad Center for Education Management (now at the Yale University School of Management) and a doctorate of education in K-12 leadership and policy from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. She is a Georgia native, where she attended public schools and graduated from Clarke Central High School in Athens.

What key experiences shape your perspective on education?

In two years with two highly effective teachers, I went from being a kid labeled as speech-delayed to entering the gifted program and then skipping a grade. Mrs. Turnell-Smith, my second-grade teacher, must have never looked at the records from my first school, and she recommended me for the gifted program by December. Then in third grade, Ms. Gardener helped me to accelerate through the curriculum, ultimately recommending that I skip fourth grade. I know that these master teachers changed my life trajectory, and I strongly believe that education should open a world of opportunities for every child.

Words to live by:

How you do anything is how you do everything.

About Kim

As Managing Director of Development & Communications at Accelerate, Kim leads fundraising strategy and external engagement efforts to amplify the organization’s work. She ensures that partnerships and collaborations align with Accelerate’s mission and long-term goals. Kim previously served as Chief of Staff, where she supported special projects and helped build out the organization’s advancement functions.

Before joining Accelerate, Kim served on the leadership team at DREAM, a network of extended-day, extended-year schools and programs in New York City. In her roles as Senior Advisor, Chief of Staff to the Co-CEOs, she led strategic initiatives that enabled the organization to function more effectively and efficiently.

Prior to DREAM, Kim provided counsel and strategic support to organizations across the nonprofit sector at CCS, an international fundraising consultancy. Her commitment to educational equity stems from her first career as a secondary math teacher in New Orleans, where she taught at open-enrollment public schools serving low-income populations through Teach For America.

Kim received her B.A. in English and B.S. in Public Policy from the University of Southern California and her M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, son, and dog.

What is your favorite part about the work you lead at Accelerate?

I am consistently inspired by the breadth of our work and its impact. We are relentless in our commitment to improving educational outcomes for students, and it’s a privilege to find ways to elevate these efforts and collaborate with others who share this vision.

Ask me about:

Transitioning from city to suburb life

About Rick

Rick Zadd is Accelerate’s Managing Director of Finance, where he leads the organization’s financial activities and provides strategic guidance to the leadership team for long term financial growth and sustainability. He brings more than a decade of experience at the intersection of education, finance, and operations, with a record of building systems that enable organizations to scale their impact.

Before joining Accelerate, Rick served as Vice President of Finance and Operations at the Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), where he oversaw finance, grants management, HR, IT, and operations. As a member of the leadership team, he led the operational aspects of the organization through a period of significant budget and staff growth. Previously, Rick spent seven years with the Tennessee Department of Education in various operations and finance roles, and earlier taught middle and high school math in traditional and charter settings in Nashville and Cheatham County, TN.

Rick holds a master’s degree in education from Lipscomb University, a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has been a Certified Management Accountant since 2022. He serves as the founding board treasurer of Nurses Middle College Nashville, a charter high school that opened in 2025 to expand pathways into nursing. Rick lives in Cleveland, OH with his wife and two sons.

What key experiences shape your perspective on education?

During my time as a middle and high school math teacher, it was clear to me that while a lot could be achieved within my classroom, there were larger barriers for some of my students that could only be solved with new systems or policies in place. I’m honored that I’ve had the chance to try to address those needs through work in state government, and more recently, nonprofit organizations that pursue better outcomes for all students.

Ask me about:

Proper exterior holiday lighting technique, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the workplace comedies of Michael Schur, and which children’s books hold interest after 100+ readings