Managing Director – Washington, D.C.

As Managing Director, Sara is responsible for excellent client service delivery, supporting Afton’s strategy and growth, and cultivating the talent of the Early Childhood team. Sara’s extensive experience advising public sector and philanthropic clients, leading a state office of early childhood, and advancing strategic reforms through policy and research provides our client partners with the insights and foresight necessary to improve outcomes for youth and families.

Sara was most recently the Deputy Superintendent of Early Learning with the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) for the District of Columbia. In this role she oversaw the 130-person Division of Early Learning team responsible for the District’s child care licensing, subsidy, quality rating and improvement system for child care programs; Part C Early Intervention programs for infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays and their families; the development and implementation of the District’s groundbreaking Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund and related efforts to recruit, retain, develop, support and compensate the early childhood workforce; and supporting early childhood policies and systems. In collaboration with OSSE leadership and partners in across DC government and in local education agencies and child development facilities, Sara led the District’s efforts to ensure that all young children and their families had access to high-quality early learning programs that support family needs and children’s learning and development and that early learning programs and early educators are supported by funding, policies and systems that equip them to thrive.

Prior to joining OSSE, Sara was a partner with Bellwether Education Partners, where she led Bellwether’s Policy and Evaluation team and early childhood work. She has written extensively and conducted policy analysis on early childhood education, charter schools, teacher quality, and state and federal education policy issues and has provided strategic advising support to foundations, advocacy organizations, and school and early childhood program operators working to improve early learning and educational outcomes for children in diverse communities, states and nationally. Her work has been featured in media outlets including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Slate, USA Today, and US News & World Report. Sara previously directed the New America Foundation’s Early Education Initiative and worked for Education Sector, the Progressive Policy Institute, and the US Department of Education. From September 2009-July 2017, she served on the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, which authorizes charter schools in Washington, DC, and since 2017 she has served on the board of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, which she chaired from 2019-2023.

The daughter, granddaughter, and sister of public-school educators, she lives in the District of Columbia with her husband and preschooler son. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Vanderbilt University.