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Board Members
John "Skip" McKoy, Chair
Mr. McKoy has a strong background in urban planning and community development and he oversees Fight For Children’s education and healthcare initiatives. McKoy works closely with local community, business, education, and government leaders to develop collaborative strategies aimed at improving the quality of life of underserved children in the Washington metropolitan area. Prior to this role, he has held executive positions at the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, DC Agenda, Lockheed Martin, and in the D.C. Government. He is chair of the State Early Childhood Development Coordinating Council; advisor to the DC Fiscal Policy Institute and The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness.
Darren Woodruff, Ph.D, Vice Chair
For more than ten years, Dr. Woodruff has worked on issues related to at-risk youth, special education, and school improvement. Among his most recent publications, Dr. Woodruff co-authored a chapter in the Harvard Civil Rights Project report on minority issues in special education. He has taught and counseled students at the elementary through college levels.
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Brian W. Jones, J.D.
Mr. Jones is Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Strayer University, a provider of post-secondary education to working adults on 96 campuses in 26 states, and online globally. Prior to Strayer, Jones co-founded Latimer Education, Inc., an early stage venture backed company partnering with Historically Black Colleges and Universities to provide high quality online post-secondary education opportunities to African Americans. Mr. Jones also served as the U. S. Department of Education’s General Counsel (2001-2005).
Emily Bloomfield
Ms Bloomfield is currently leading a startup initiative to address the educational needs of pre-teens and teens in foster care. She also serves on the board of the DC College Success Foundation. Most recently, Ms. Bloomfield served as a Senior Policy Advisor to Stand for Children. Prior experience includes serving as an elected a member of the Board of Education in the Santa-Monica-Mailbu Unified School District (SMMUSD) in California where she served as Vice-President and President of the Board. Other previous employment includes working as a product manager for CitySearch, a Senior Associate in Marketing and Strategic planning at the Los Angeles Times, and as a Senior Economist at LMC international.
Sara Mead
Ms. Mead focuses on thought leadership as well as strategic advising at Bellwether. Her work on federal education policy, charter schools, preschool, and gender in education has been featured in numerous media outlets including The Washington Post, New York Times,
and USA Today, and she has appeared on CBS and ABC News and on NPR. Before joining Bellwether, she directed the New America Foundation’s Early Education Initiative. She has also worked for Education Sector, the Progressive Policy Institute, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Don Soifer
Don Soifer is Executive Vice President of the Lexington Institute, a nonpartisan think tank headquartered in Arlington, VA. Mr. Soifer has published numerous articles and papers on education policy, accountability and assessments, higher education finance, closing achievement gaps for English language learners, and special education, in many of the nation's most influential publications. His research has been widely cited by education policymakers and scholars. He runs the Virginia Charter School Resource Center. He is a graduate of Colgate University and lives in Washington, DC.