Announcing 2026 Framework Updates

Jeanne Bellotti is a Senior Director in Mathematica's Education and Employment division, overseeing the company's portfolio of work related to labor and employment. Over her 30-year career, Ms. Bellotti’s work has focused on the intersection of education, training and employment. She is an expert in designing and conducting large-scale impact, outcomes, implementation and cost-benefit studies of programs aimed at helping Americans prepare for, find and retain employment in high-skilled careers. She currently leads an impact and implementation evaluation for the U.S. Department of Labor of the Strengthening Community Colleges Round 4 grants, which aim to enhance the capacity of community colleges to meet the skill development needs of employers and support students in obtaining good jobs in high-demand sectors. She’s also leading work with the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation to support data collection planning, continuous improvement, and long-term learning as it spearheads the state-wide Career Apprenticeship Pathway program that offers multi-year apprenticeships to Indiana high schoolers and adults.

Kristin Blagg is a principal research associate in the Work, Education, and Labor Division at the Urban Institute. Her research spans K–12 and higher education, with a focus on funding and finance policy. In higher education, Blagg has studied student loans, federal and state grant aid, student basic needs, and measurement of return on investment. In K–12 education, she has led work on measuring student economic disadvantage, funding formulas, and projecting the long-run returns on educational investments. She helps lead the Institute's work on the Social Genome Model, which helps project the impact of interventions on economic and social mobility from birth through adulthood. 

Blagg holds a BA in government from Harvard University, an M.S.Ed from Hunter College, an M.P.P. from Georgetown University, and a Ph.D. in public policy and public administration from George Washington University.

Stacy Caldwell is the CEO of CredLens, a nonprofit affiliate of Strada Education Foundation, with a focus on delivering quality outcomes data and insights for workforce credentials in the United States. Caldwell brings a rich and diverse background in the education and workforce sectors, along with a passion for driving improvements in the systems that support education to employment transitions. Before joining CredLens, Caldwell was the General Manager for High School + Career at Penn Foster, a leading workforce development and adult education provider, where she led their work to design and deliver career-aligned and student-centered programs. Prior to Penn Foster, Caldwell served as the first CEO of the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC), a nonprofit consortium of schools devoted to re-inventing how students prepare for college, career and life. Caldwell holds an MA in Education and MBA from Stanford University and earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University.

Jeran Culina is the Senior Manager of Business Leaders United (BLU). BLU is a national business network comprised of leaders from small and medium-sized enterprises representing a range of industry sectors who are concerned about our nation’s skills mismatch and promote public investments in skills training and education that prepare America’s workers for jobs in the 21st Century economy. Jeran manages the implementation of engaging and expanding the BLU network.

Before joining National Skills Coalition, Jeran worked as a Senior Policy Associate at Advance CTE, which supports state CTE leaders to advance high-quality and equitable CTE policies, programs and pathways. In this role, she managed two sites under the JP Morgan Chase New Skills ready network grant which supports sites in developing more equitable high quality career pathways for all learners.

Jeran has also served as the Education and Research Project Manager at Talent 2025, a systems level convener in West Michigan. As the Education Research Project Manager, she led the organization’s work in all the education priorities from early childhood to postsecondary education. Jeran guided the convening of several education working groups that focused their priorities on policy and advocacy that alleviated barriers and increased funding for at risk students throughout their educational journey from cradle to career. Jeran has a Master of Educational Leadership Michigan State University and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary of Social Sciences with an emphasis on early childhood education from SUNY Buffalo.

Katherine DeRosear is an educonomy strategist with more than two decades of experience aligning education, industry, and government to strengthen talent pipelines and advance economic growth. As Workforce and Economic Development Principal at Resultant, she leads strategic initiatives that help public sector agencies modernize workforce systems, improve labor market alignment, and deliver data-driven service innovations that meet workforce development priorities. Previously, Katherine served as Director of Education and Workforce Strategies at PowerSchool, where she guided states in developing P20W data systems and college and career readiness frameworks that connect education outcomes to workforce demand. 

Earlier in her career, Katherine led statewide implementation of career navigation platforms as Senior Vice President for Partner Engagement at Headed2 and designed industry-driven training programs as Executive Director of the Manufacturing Skills Institute. Her leadership extends to government service as Deputy Senior Advisor to the Governor for Workforce Development and as Director of Workforce Policy for the Virginia Community College System. A trusted advisor to state leaders, Katherine is known for her ability to integrate policy, partnerships, and technologies to create scalable, future-ready workforce solutions. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Annelies Goger is the director of research for UpSkill America, an initiative of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program. Prior to joining the Institute in February 2026, Dr. Goger was a Rubenstein Fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she collaborated with state leaders to scale apprenticeship programs, implement skills-based hiring and promotion practices, and transform labor and education data systems to better capture evolving market trends and analytics. Before her time at Brookings, Dr. Goger served as a senior researcher for Social Policy Research Associates and IMPAQ International, evaluating a wide range of workforce, education, and human services programs. She was also a Fulbright Scholar, where her doctoral field research focused on management practices in global clothing supply chains.

Dr. Goger is dedicated to aligning education systems with economic development opportunities, particularly within the shifting landscapes of AI, automation, and geopolitical change. She is passionate about developing human-centered design in education and training ecosystems that provide individuals with diverse pathways to economic mobility, resilience, and wellbeing. Dr. Goger holds a Ph.D. in economic geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. in Sociology from Brandeis University.

Josh Laney is Vice President of Apprenticeship and Work-Embedded Learning at the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN), where he leads the National Project on Apprenticeship Standards and Interoperability (PASI), a federally funded initiative to expand and modernize competency-based apprenticeship models nationwide. Mr. Laney is a nationally recognized leader in work-embedded learning, having testified before the U.S. Senate HELP Committee and served on the NASTAD executive board. He brings deep expertise in policy and program design for employer-driven, competency-based apprenticeship. Previously, Mr. Laney served as the founding director of the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship, where he built an industry-driven apprenticeship system recognized nationally for its responsiveness to workforce needs, emphasis on quality training for quality jobs, and strong alignment with education and economic development priorities. Mr. Laney is a graduate of Auburn and Troy Universities and lives with his family on their cattle farm in Russell County, Alabama.

Dr. McGrew has been a national leader in advancing the use of longitudinal administrative data to inform public policy and practice. He founded KYSTATS and the Kentucky Longitudinal Data System, helped numerous states launch successful statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDS) data integration initiatives, and was a pioneer in the Data Quality Campaign to advocate for cross-sector education-to-workforce data standards and privacy protocols. He spent the past decade as a program officer in the SLDS grant program at Institute of Education Sciences (IES)/National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), where he worked with states to highlight best practices and foster collaboration. Dr. McGrew is currently working with the Coleridge Initiative focused on democratizing data use to ensure it remains accessible, actionable, and transformative.

Emily Passias serves as the deputy executive director of Advance CTE and has built her career around helping states and communities better connect education to the world of work through the development and implementation of high-quality career pathways. Prior to joining Advance CTE, Emily served as the Vice President for Policy at the Linked Learning Alliance, where she led efforts to design, advocate for, and implement state policies that connect college and career. Prior to joining the Alliance, Emily served as the Director of Career Readiness at Education Strategy Group, where she led the firm’s credentials of value initiatives, worked with large school districts across the country to build and implement high-quality career pathways, and designed tools and strategies to ensure that every learner is fully supported towards career and postsecondary readiness. Prior to joining ESG, Emily served as the Director of Career-Technical Education at the Ohio Department of Education. In that role, Emily’s work focused on designing policies that catalyze career pathway expansion, quality and industry alignment for all learners.  Emily also led the Department’s development of Ohio’s career-focused pathways to high school graduation, as well as the Department’s industry-recognized credential initiatives. During her tenure at the Ohio Department of Education, Emily also served as the Assistant Director in the Office of Accountability at the Ohio Department of Education, where she led the development and implementation of the nation’s first A-F school report card focused on Career Technical Education.

In addition to her education policy experience, Emily taught in the sociology department at The Ohio State University for many years. Emily brings this experience to her work, always pushing to ensure that education policies are developed and implemented with the needs of the learner and communities as the guiding principle. Emily earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in Sociology at The Ohio State University, and completed the Strategic Data Project Fellowship through the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University.
 

Jenna Terrell is a Senior Research Associate at WestEd's Center for Economic Mobility, where she leads applied research and program evaluation with state education agencies, college and university systems, labor unions, and workforce development agencies. She also serves as a disclosure avoidance expert through WestEd's Data Integration Support Center (DISC), helping education agencies protect student privacy while maintaining the utility of longitudinal data for research and accountability. Her work bridges rigorous evaluation methodology with practical policy application, helping partners use data to advance equitable economic outcomes for students. Jenna brings expertise in state longitudinal data systems and multi-state research across topics such CTE, dual enrollment, short-term credentials, work-based learning, adult learners, and workforce training.

Ross Santy currently serves as the Chief Data Officer for the U.S. Department of Education, a position he has held since 2023. Mr. Santy joined the Department of Education in 2005 and has focused on data collections, data governance and improving the culture around data use at the agency throughout his entire federal career. He has served four different roles within ED, include 10 years as the Associate Commissioner of the Administrative Data Division within the National Center for Education Statistics. 

Earlier in his career Mr. Santy co-led a small team to create a non-profit organization working on statewide educational data initiatives in California; served within the Los Angeles County Office of Education; directed instructional technology at the Browning School in New York City and taught history for four years at a high school in New Jersey. Mr. Santy has earned a Master's in Educational Technology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and an undergraduate degree in Educational Psychology from Princeton University
 

Dr. Mindelyn Anderson is the CEO of Mirror Group, LLC.  Since 2017, Mindelyn has positioned Mirror Group as more than a consultancy—it's a catalyst for organizational transformation. Serving clients across health systems, environmental justice, education, and economic development, her team doesn't just measure impact; they mirror possibilities and architect pathways to achieve them. After holding positions at Northeastern University and then leading the MS in Measurement and Evaluation at American University, Mindelyn chose entrepreneurship to amplify her impact. This bold pivot has resulted in 300x revenue growth, partnerships with 50+ organizations, and a new paradigm for culturally responsive evaluation. Currently focused on launching the Mirror Institute™ to train the next generation of evaluators, Mindelyn is building infrastructure for lasting change in how data serves communities. Her vision: a world where every organization, regardless of size or resources, can harness data for equitable transformation. Mindelyn is a graduate of UCLA undergraduate and Johns Hopkins PhD, and she is a wife and mother of four. Mindelyn embodies the power of bridging rigorous analysis with real-world impact

Naihobe Gonzalez is a principal researcher at Mathematica with over 15 years of experience collaborating with education leaders to promote data-driven decision making. Dr. Gonzalez led the development of the Education-to-Workforce Indicator Framework and has led several evaluations of education initiatives, with a focus on successful transitions from high school into postsecondary education and the workforce. For example, she is currently leading an analysis of dual enrollment and its effects on college completion, student loan usage, and employment and earnings. Before joining Mathematica, she was a strategic data consultant with the Oakland Unified School District, where she helped the district develop a school performance and data reporting framework. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.

Brianna Moore-Trieu, Ph D. is a Senior Program Officer, USP Data and AI at the Gates Foundation. Prior to this role she worked as a Program Lead at the University of California, Office of the President, where she led initiatives to measure the non-economic and economic value of a college degree and enhance diversity of transfer students. As a Fellow for the WASC Senior College and University Commission, she developed a framework for practitioners on using racial equity gaps data to drive institutional change. Over the last 15 years, she has worked to improve data systems in both higher education and K-12 systems and held positions including Director of Policy Research for the New York City Department of Education and Director of Institutional Research at California College of the Arts. She has served as President of the California Association for Institutional Research (CAIR), on the Board of Trustees for Westcliff University. She holds a Ph D. in Measurement, Evaluation, & Statistics from Columbia University, an M.A. in Ed. Psychology and B.A. in Sociology from NYU.

Adrian N. Neely serves as a Research & Evaluation Consultant at Mirror Group, LLC. She received her BS in Biology and MEd in Science Education from the University of Georgia and her Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning from Georgia State University. As a health policy research scholar, Dr. Neely developed a conceptual framework for school connectedness drawing on ecological models of social determinants of health. Dr. Neely uses qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to examine racial health and education disparities. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experiences from various administrative roles, professional learning communities, and research and evaluation teams. Dr. Neely is passionate about improving children’s educational experiences by developing equitable measures and approaches to program and policy evaluation.