About the Event:
In this panel, TFA alumni and former White House Fellows, Dr. Warren Morgan (St Louis ’07), Ryan Tauriainen (Hawaii ’08), Rachel Evans (Baltimore ’06), and Lee McGoldrick (Los Angeles ’93), shared their experiences with the competitive application process for becoming a White House Fellow. Participants gained insights on how to highlight their TFA leadership experience and prepare for the intensive selection stages, including detailed essays and rigorous interviews. The session provided valuable perspectives for those looking to impact national policy and lead societal change.
Featured Resources:
- Presentation Slides
- Note that the deck includes a list of previous TFA and WHF alumni you can reach out to for networking and learning opportunities. For data privacy reasons, we can only share their names and WHF year and not personal contact details.
- Information on the White House Fellow program
- Resources & Opportunities From TFA’s Office of Equity & Belonging: See our Teach For America partners and collaborators that provide Internships, Fellowships, Academies and other programs that support the development of leaders interested in public service careers and public policy positions. They offer numerous educational and leadership development programs for individuals ranging from high school, undergraduate students to young professionals with graduate degrees
- Resources from LEE: LEE is a nonprofit organization inspiring & supporting civic leaders to advance equity in their communities.
- Ready to pursue the WHF (or another civic leadership role?)
- Career and Effectiveness Coaching: Multiple formats of 1:1 and group coaching for leaders pursuing a career and impact in policy or advocacy.
- To sign up, visit: https://wearelee.org/get-matched-to-a-career-coach/
- Not quite ready?
- Upskill in key areas: Explore online courses around Project Management, Policy Research and Writing, and more.
- LEE Member-Facing Job Board: Curated impact-focused Job Board exclusively for LEE members.
- Ready to pursue the WHF (or another civic leadership role?)
About the Panelists:
Dr. Warren Morgan
CEO, Cleveland Metropolitan School District
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Dr. Warren Morgan (St Louis ’07, WHF 2016-2017) is Chief Executive Officer for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. As CEO, he leads one of the largest school systems in the state of Ohio with nearly 40,000 students and over 6,500 staff members. He was appointed by Cleveland Mayor, Justin Bibb in the summer of 2023.
As an experienced educator, Warren recognizes the potential every child has, and that an excellent and equitable education is the window to a world of opportunities for our children. He grew up in Chicago’s south suburbs. Prior to his current post as CEO of Cleveland schools, he served as Chief Academic Officer for Indianapolis Public Schools, where he led the academic vision, strategy, and policy of the district that has led to improvement in student performance.
Some of his previous leadership posts include serving as Executive Director for Teach For America in St. Louis, a high school principal in Chicago Public Schools, secondary science teacher in St. Louis where he was awarded Outstanding Teacher of the Year, and he began his career as a bill analyst for the Illinois Senate.
One of the highlights of his career was being selected as a White House Fellow in 2016, where he had the opportunity to serve in both President Obama and President Trump’s administrations. He was placed in the US Department of Education and worked closely with US Secretary of Education Dr. John King. He has the honor of serving on the White House Fellows Foundation Association Board of Directors currently.
Warren holds a B.A. in Psychology from Butler University, where he served as student body president; a M.Ed. in Educational Administration from the University of Missouri- St. Louis; and an Ed.D. in Urban Educational Leadership from the University of Illinois–Chicago. He is an alum of the Broad Center Fellow for Public Education Leadership at the Yale University School of Management and has an executive certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from Washington University St. Louis. He is an active member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Inc.
Rachel Evans
EVP, Chief Revenue & Development Officer, Teach For America
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Rachel Evans (Baltimore ’06, WHF 2017-2018) has dedicated her career to exploring how relationships, communities, and institutions can shape us for the better. As the CEO of CityBridge Education in Washington, DC, she partnered with practitioners, elected officials, and community stakeholders to design and build initiatives advancing equity and opportunity for children. CityBridge incubated and launched independent nonprofits like CityTutor DC and CityWorks DC, as well as multiple single-site public charter schools. During Rachel’s 5-year tenure, CityBridge invested over $15 million into the local education ecosystem, directly supporting schools, community-based organizations, and more than 300 educators and education entrepreneurs.
Previously, Rachel served as a White House Fellow at the Department of Defense, where she acted as the Chief of Staff for the Office of the Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness during a crucial leadership transition. She also served in a variety of leadership roles at TNTP, first as the Site Manager for the Oakland Teaching Fellows Program, then as the Site Director for the Arizona Teaching Fellows Program, and ultimately as the Partner overseeing national business development and strategic growth. Rachel started her career at Teach For America as a high school teacher in Baltimore. She later joined the recruitment team, overseeing outreach and cultivation at colleges and universities in the mid-Atlantic region.
Outside of her full-time job, Rachel serves as an officer and chaplain candidate in the US Army Reserve. She is completing her Master of Divinity degree at Duke Divinity School, and also holds a BA in English Literature from Texas A&M, an MA in Teaching from Johns Hopkins University, and an Executive MBA from the Quantic School of Business & Technology. She lives in the Brookland neighborhood of DC with her wife and son.
Dr. Ryan Tauriainen
Executive Director, D.C. & Virginia, Teach For America
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Dr. Ryan Tauriainen (Hawaii ’08, WHF 2019-2020) is an educational leader who brings a fifteen-year commitment to educational equity, expanding early childhood education, and service to his community. He is currently the Executive Director of Teach For America D.C. and Virginia, responsible for ensuring strategy, financial sustainability, and programmatic excellence for the region. Prior to this, Ryan served as a White House Fellow (2019-2020) in the Department of Education. At ED, Ryan helped streamline operations, manage education grants, and direct the Department’s response to COVID-19, including overseeing the dissemination of $30+ billion of emergency educational funding to states out of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Ryan began his education career as a 7th grade ELA teacher with Hawaii Public Schools through Teach For America, where he was among the highest performing teachers in the state. He later moved to Washington, D.C. where he became a principal at age 26, the youngest ever in the district. During his tenure, over 90% of the students at his Title 1 School grew to test proficient in literacy and math. After years in school leadership, Ryan led at a district level, overseeing Early Childhood Strategy for multiple schools across Washington, D.C.
Ryan is the recipient of several local awards for educational leadership, including The Washington Post’s 2016 Principal of the Year, and has national awards from Leading For Children, the Council for Exceptional Children, and the National Council of Teachers of English. A proud member of the LGBT community, Ryan was celebrated by NBC as one of 30 honorees on their 2018 international “Pride 30 List.” He has a BA from Middlebury College, M.Ed from Chaminade University of Honolulu, and an Ed.D from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education.
Lee McGoldrick
VP, Legislative & Regulatory Analysis, Teach For America
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Lee McGoldrick (TFA Los Angeles ’93, WHF 2000-2001) is the Vice President of Legislative, Regulatory and Policy Analysis for Teach For America. She has spent over 20 years leading at Teach For America, first as the head of the Regional Operations team, then heading up Growth Strategy and now focusing on government affairs and policy. Prior to joining Teach For America’s staff, Lee served as a White House Fellow with the Department of Education under both the Clinton and Bush Administrations. Lee started her career as a high school English teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, eventually becoming English Department Chair and a clinical instructor for the district’s in-house educator certification program. After teaching, she became an attorney, serving as a Congressional Fellow focused on PK-12 federal education issues, an Equal Justice Foundation Fellow with the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs focused on local public education issues in the District of Columbia, and then a Clinic Supervisor and Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. While in that role, she co-founded and served as interim principal and on the board of the Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School in Washington D.C., and was awarded the D.C. Bar Association’s “Young Lawyer of the Year” award.
In her free time, Lee is a volunteer mentor and board member for a group of teens who launched and operate a youth-led community non-profit organization focused on childhood literacy, and has many years of volunteer service in local schools and community service organizations. She earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and B.A., Honors English Literature from McGill University. She lives in upstate NY with her husband, and they are the parents of two daughters, both current college students.
About the Career Acceleration Virtual Event Series
Hosted by the Teach For America Career Center and select partners and contributors, the Career Acceleration Virtual Events Series is offered to our entire network to engage in career accelerating topics to help inspire and support mindsets, knowledge and skills that advance one’s own career. The event series occurs every fall. We are always looking for a range of diverse speakers and topics to engage our alumni and corps member network. If you are interested in becoming a Career Acceleration virtual speaker or presenter, click here to learn more.