WHO WE ARE

Pooja served two Governors and a statewide ecosystem of education and early childhood partners as an advisor with over 20 years of experience. She has supported community organizations and coalitions, state and local public agencies, school and education service districts, philanthropy, unions, and national nonprofits.

Pooja designed, led, and facilitated the process that resulted in over $500 million more for Oregon public education in 2025-27 with the first of many needed upgrades to the complex State School Fund. Pooja also co-created with sovereign tribal nations and community-based organizations new investments in early literacy, and led a 2024 statewide initiative in summer and afterschool learning that produced a long-term vision and roadmap for further systems change.

Her love language is policy, but she knows that policy is words on paper without the people and practice part. She has seen “behind the curtain” how the State-to-Local education system is misaligned with what we all want for young people and puts discordant demands on the plates of educators and youth-serving staff. That belief led her to start the Oregon Network for Education Excellence to catalyze a long-overdue vision and plan for improving Oregon public education with urgency.

Pooja’s leadership has bridged labor and management relationships and traditional political divisions, forging bipartisan coalitions. In addition to her State leadership, Pooja’s diverse experience includes:

• Providing research to support Justice for Janitors organizing drives;

• Building the organizing capacity of security workers in India to implement an international labor agreement in partnership with management;

• Developed organizational development assessments for executive leaders based on employee input;

• Led complex, large-scale community engagement and research projects; and much more.

Pooja, the daughter of Indian immigrants, earned a Master of Public Policy focused on education from the University of Michigan.