Josh is a Deputy Director on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation K-12 team within the US Program focused on increasing the number of Black, Latinx, and low-income students who earn a high school diploma, enroll in a post-secondary institution, and are on track in their first year to attain a credential with labor market value.
Before becoming a Deputy Director, Josh was a Senior Program Officer on the K-12 team supporting efforts to prepare students for college and career success in Tennessee and Florida. Previous to this “state lead” role at Gates, Josh oversaw the seven-year, $90M investment in teacher effectiveness in the Memphis City/Shelby County Schools. He was also the lead program officer developing knowledge about principal leadership for 11 districts/CMOs. Before Gates, Josh was the Deputy Chief of School Innovation (OSI) for the DC Public Schools. OSI oversaw efforts to support and empower 58 DC public schools through the infusion of unique programmatic elements targeting student investment and achievement.
Prior to working at DC Public Schools, Josh was the Executive Officer of the Office of New Schools (ONS) at Chicago Public Schools, which worked to recruit, develop, and support new schools and ultimately, hold them accountable to high performance measures. He has also held various leadership positions at The SEED Foundation, first on the board of directors, then as principal of The SEED School, a public charter boarding school in Washington DC. Josh also taught for ten years before working with SEED. He taught social studies for three years at Milton Academy in Massachusetts and seven years at Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California where he was also the founder and Executive Director for RISE (Realizing Intellect through Self-Empowerment), a youth development program targeted at African-American youth.
Josh has a bachelor’s degree in American history from Harvard University, a master’s degree in education from Stanford University, and a second master’s in educational administration with an administrative credential, also from Stanford University. Josh has received fellowships from the Mellon Foundation and Echoing Green and has served on the boards of Breakthrough Collaborative, Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, City Year DC, EL Haynes Public Charter School, the Maya Angelou Public Charter School, the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools and The SEED Foundation. Josh was also a MENtor for Real Men Read in Chicago.
