Kerri Briggs

As executive director of CFT’s Educate Texas, Kerri provides strategic vision and operational management of Educate Texas in leading a transformation of Texas’ public and higher education systems to prepare students for success.

Kerri is a seasoned professional with extensive expertise in federal and state government, K-12 education, higher education and corporate social responsibility. Most recently, Kerri served as the Chief of Staff for Houston ISD. Before joining the HISD team, Kerri was a partner at Cicero Group, where she led projects across industries in the social impact and K-12 sectors – working alongside partners to measure, evaluate and implement strategies that realize change.

Prior to joining Cicero Group, Kerri served as the Education Program and Policy Officer for ExxonMobil, where she managed the education grantmaking portfolio and provided policy advice on issues related to teacher quality, state standards and federal policy issues. Her prior role as the founding Director of Education Reform at the George W. Bush Institute was what brought her back to Texas after nine years in Washington, D.C.

Kerri also served as State Superintendent of Education for Washington D.C., where she led the state system that included early childhood education, school food services, federal K-12 policy and finances and higher education programming. In this role, she managed $100 million in local and $550 million in federal funding and was the liaison to the State Board of Education, D.C. City Council, and the Mayor’s Office.

Briggs was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education and was confirmed in June 2007, where she played a pivotal role in policy and management issues affecting students. That role capped off nearly eight years of service at the U.S Department of Education, where she was involved in policy creation and implementation, state engagement, regulatory development and budget creation and administration.

In addition to roles at the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the USDE, she held positions in the Office of the Deputy Secretary, and Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development.

Kerri earned a Ph.D. in Education Policy and a master’s degree in public policy, both from the University of Southern California. She earned her B.A. from Stephen F. Austin State University.