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Speaker Biographies

David Dunn is the chief of staff to Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. In this position, he continues a career devoted to improving accountability and raising standards in American schools. Prior to joining the U.S. Department of Education, Mr. Dunn served as special assistant to the president for domestic policy at the White House Domestic Policy Council, a role he began in August 2002. His portfolio of issues included all areas of education policy, from early childhood through higher education. Before joining the Domestic Policy Council, Mr. Dunn was the associate executive director of the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), where he acted as the association’s chief lobbyist. Mr. Dunn was also the association expert on school finance and school accountability. Prior to his work at TASB, Dunn spent fifteen years in education and fiscal policy analysis for the state of Texas. He acted as lead staff for an education policy center that developed the blueprint for Texas’s school accountability system in the early ’90’s.

David Goldston is a visiting lecturer and practitioner-in-residence at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, where he teaches a course on the intersection of science and environmental policy. He is the author of the monthly column “Party of One” for the journal Nature, in which he writes about congressional action related to science policy. From 2001 through 2006, Goldston was the chief of staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, which has jurisdiction over much of the federal civilian research and development portfolio, as well as issues relating to science, mathematics, and engineering education. Goldston also worked on science and education issues from 1985 to 1994 as a professional staff member on the Science Committee. He retired from Capitol Hill after more than twenty years at the end of 2006.

Frederick M. Hess is a resident scholar director of education policy studies at AEI, and executive editor of Education Next. His many books include Tough Love for Schools (AEI Press 2006), Educational Entrepreneurship (Harvard Education Press, 2006), With the Best of Intentions (Harvard Education Press, 2005), Common Sense School Reform (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Revolution at the Margins (Brookings Institution, 2002), and Spinning Wheels (Brookings Institution, 1999). His work has appeared in outlets including Urban Affairs Review, Social Science Quarterly, American Politics Quarterly, Teachers College Record, Education Week, Phi Delta Kappan, Educational Leadership, and National Review. Mr. Hess currently serves on the review board for the Broad Prize in Urban Education, as a research associate with the Harvard University Program on Education Policy and Governance, and as a member of the research advisory board for the National Center on Educational Accountability. He is a former high school social studies teacher and former professor of education and government at the University of Virginia.

Andrew Rotherham is co-founder and co-director of Education Sector, a national education policy think tank, and a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. In addition, he writes the blog Eduwonk.com. Rotherham also serves on the Virginia Board of Education, a position he was appointed to by Governor Mark Warner in 2005. Previously, Rotherham served at the White House as special assistant to the president for domestic policy during the Clinton administration. Rotherham is the author of numerous articles and papers about education, and co-editor of three books on educational policy, including Collective Bargaining in Education: Negotiating Change in Today’s Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2006). He serves on advisory boards and committees for a variety of organizations, including the American Academy for Liberal Education, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Broad Foundation, Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, Common Good, National Governors Association, National Charter School Research Project, and New Visions. He is a trustee of the Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School for Public Policy, and a member of the boards of directors for the Charter School Leadership Council and the National Council on Teacher Quality.

Susan Traiman is director of public policy at Business Roundtable, where she oversees the Roundtable’s work with chief executive officers of leading corporations interested in improving education performance and workforce competitiveness in the United States. Prior to joining Business Roundtable, Ms. Traiman was director of education policies studies at the National Governors Association, in which capacity she worked with governors on the first National Education Summit and the development of the National Education Goals. She was a senior associate with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement, where she served on the staff of the National Commission on Excellence in Education and contributed to its landmark 1983 report, A Nation at Risk. Before coming to Washington, D.C., she worked at the state level for a regional technical assistance center and at the local level as a seventh grade social studies teacher.

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