Youth-serving workforce solutions advisory board

Jennifer Bronson
Managing Director of Programs, Accelerate

Jennifer Bronson serves as Managing Director of Programs at Accelerate. In this role she works with Accelerate’s portfolio of grantees to understand emerging best practice in individualized instruction and builds programming for Accelerate’s Community of Practice to share research, explore implementation challenges, and encourage adoption of promising strategies.

Prior to joining Accelerate, Jennifer most recently served as Executive Director of Chattanooga 2.0, the cradle-to-career collaborative of Chattanooga-Hamilton County, Tennessee. As the convening entity that brings community, business, nonprofit, and education partners together to align resources and strategic focus, Chattanooga 2.0 seeks to improve outcomes for Hamilton County, Tennessee students, including early childhood, K-12, and higher education learners. Before leading Chattanooga 2.0, Jennifer served as Chief of Staff for Hamilton County Schools, where she led the school system’s COVID-19 response and launched a Student Success Planning pilot in partnership with Harvard University’s Education Redesign Lab and the By All Means consortium. Jennifer began her career as a first and fifth grade teacher through Teach for America in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she went on to work in talent and leadership development as a project manager for Clark County Schools, the nation’s fifth-largest school district. Also an attorney, Jennifer served as an assistant public defender in the Missouri State Public Defender office and is admitted to the State Bars of Wisconsin and Missouri. During her legal career, she worked with the Wisconsin State Public Defender Juvenile Unit and was a judicial intern in the Wisconsin State Supreme Court.

Jennifer received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and a master’s degree in education from the University of Nevada – Las Vegas. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she received the Wisconsin Idea Merit Scholarship, which is awarded to a student who seeks to improve the quality of life for citizens of the state. Jennifer lives in South Carolina with her husband and three sons.
 

Jillian Green Loughran, MPA/MA
Director of Strategic Initiatives, The Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport (CHJS)

Jillian’s work at the Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport allows her to engage with sport at every level. From community centers to juvenile detention centers to major college athletic conferences and professional leagues, Jillian and her team put a premium on teaching mentors and program providers to deliver healing-centered, brain-aware, experiences while protecting, nurturing and embracing athletes for every bit of who they are. Jillian is part of the faculty of the Neurosequential Model in Sport- a collaborative project with Bruce D. Perry, M.D. Ph.D. that integrates biologically respectful best practices into sport and brings over 10+ years of experience designing, implementing, and capacity-building in the sports-based youth development and OST spaces. Prior to her work with CHJS, Jillian oversaw the implementation of programming at DREAM (formerly known as Harlem RBI) and most recently at Philly Girls in Motion where she served as the Executive Director. Jillian holds an M.A. in International Relations and an M.P.A. with a focus in Nonprofit Management from Seton Hall’s Whitehead School of Diplomacy. She has also completed leadership training at the Columbia University Business School.
 

Tay J. Moore
Research and Policy Associate, Aspen Institute
Former Member, National 4-H Council Board of Trustees

Tay Moore is a Research and Policy Associate for the Education and Society Program at the Aspen Institute His passion for public education, positive youth development, and community engagement was inspired by his upbringing in rural northwest Louisiana. At Aspen, he engages in hands-on policy analysis and development, organizing cross-partisan events to increase dialogue among education leaders, congressional staffers, and local and state practitioners. In addition, he conducts independent research on rural education innovations, challenges, and areas for policy investment. 

Prior to joining Aspen, Tay gathered extensive experience through work and volunteer roles across K-12 public schools, land-grant universities, state and local government, and nonprofit organizations. His leadership experience spans from grassroots efforts to national governance, including service on the National 4-H Council Board of Trustees, where he advocated for equitable program access and contributed to strategic initiatives addressing youth development in underserved communities. Tay is a recent honors graduate of Louisiana State University, where he holds dual degrees in Political Science and Music. During his time at LSU, he was named a Ron Brown Scholar, Faith & Politics Institute John Robert Lewis Scholar, and Harry S. Truman Scholar. He continues to speak nationally on topics related to positive youth development, rural education, and community-engaged policy solutions.

 

Phil Robinson
CEO, Forum for Youth Investment

Phillip M. Robinson, Jr. was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Forum for Youth Investment in May 2025. With more than 15 years of executive leadership spanning the nonprofit, public, and private sectors, Phil has a proven track record of building and facilitating inclusive, high-performing teams, driving measurable impact, and creating opportunities for young people through systems and policy change. His leadership reflects the Forum’s deep commitment to cross-sector collaboration and evidence-based strategies that help all young people thrive.

Phil has held senior national roles at leading education and youth-serving organizations. As Chief Impact Officer at Reading Partners, he led 12 regions and more than 400 staff, mobilizing over 10,000 volunteers and helping deliver literacy support to thousands of students. Before that, he served as Senior Vice President of Site Operations at City Year, overseeing 29 sites nationwide with a $165 million budget and supporting more than 3,000 AmeriCorps members. Earlier in his career, as Executive Director of City Year Cleveland, he spearheaded a turnaround that transformed the site into one of the highest-performing in the network. Also, Phil previously worked for several Fortune 500 companies and served as a congressional legislative aide for U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

In addition to his nonprofit leadership, Phil serves as an elected member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing the state’s 19th District since 2019. In this role, he has been instrumental in shaping bipartisan education and workforce policy—including legislation to fund public schools and expand career credentialing fully. He serves on key committees such as Primary and Secondary Education and Finance. Phil holds an Executive MBA from Case Western Reserve University and a BBA in Finance from The George Washington University. He lives in Solon, Ohio, with his wife and two children.
 

Rey Saldaña
President and CEO, Communities In School

Rey Saldaña is the President and CEO of Communities In Schools® (CIS®) the national organization that surrounds students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Saldaña is a CIS alumnus, whose journey from former student supported by CIS to national leader of Communities In Schools, sends an inspiring message to young people nationwide about the power they have to write their own success story.

Most recently, Saldaña served as the Regional Advocacy Director for the Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation and the Chair of the San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Agency-VIA. Prior to that, he successfully served four terms on the San Antonio City Council where he was first elected at age 24, becoming the youngest council person in that city’s history.

During his four terms, Saldaña focused on helping to meet the needs and harness the skills of young people and working families in his community. He championed the expansion of park space and community clinics in underserved areas, fought for increased funding for the city’s public transportation system, successfully campaigned for funding of the city’s early childhood initiative (Pre-K 4SA), and streamlined the city and county’s child truancy court. He chaired the city’s Intergovernmental Relations Committee, where he worked closely with state and federal legislators on law making and local policy development.

Concurrent with his elected position, he taught as an Adjunct Professor at Trinity University and Palo Alto Community College. Additionally, he worked with The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Office of Community Engagement and served as Chief Engagement Officer with KIPP San Antonio Public Schools. Saldaña holds a master’s degree from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education where he studied policy, organization and leadership studies, and two bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Communications from Stanford. In 2023, Saldaña was awarded Stanford Universities’ President Award for the Advancement of the Common Good.

The son of immigrants who came to this country from Mexico, Saldaña was born and raised on the South Side of San Antonio and is the product of Title I Texas public schools. He is a proud first-generation American and first in his family to graduate from college. He and his wife Jessica are the happy parents of Eli, Olivia, and two rescue dogs.
 

Ozzie Smith
President of Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) Lone Star

Ozzie Smith serves as the President of Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) Lone Star. Since joining the organization in 2019, he provides strategic leadership to a dedicated team of professionals committed to serving youth across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Under his leadership, the organization has achieved significant financial growth, which has directly supported a substantial increase in volunteer recruitment to better serve children across the community.

His leadership at BBBS is informed by an extensive career in the energy and management consulting sectors. Previously, he was a strategy executive with Accenture Consulting, where he directed large-scale business and technology transformation projects for government and nonprofit clients. Prior to Accenture, he dedicated over a decade to Siemens Energy, holding roles of increasing responsibility that ranged from design engineer and project manager to an account executive for the APAC and LATAM regions.

This work is driven by a lifelong passion for youth development, demonstrated by more than 30 years of volunteer service. His commitment to education extends globally; in 2015, Ozzie co-founded a U.S. curriculum-based primary school in Accra, Ghana, to help modernize the education sector in developing nations. Locally, he also co-founded a youth track and field club, creating pathways for young people to pursue higher education through athletics. He continues to serve on several community boards.

He holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Florida, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University. A native Texan, he enjoys traveling with his wife and daughter, along with exploring movies and music.
 

Stephanie Wu
Chief Transformation Officer, City Year, Inc.

Stephanie Wu serves as City Year's Chief Transformation Officer, where she leads the research, development, and launch of innovative educator and service leadership programs within a national network of education partners and AmeriCorps programs. As a founding team member of City Year, Stephanie has held numerous leadership positions, giving her deep operational expertise in transformational initiatives and scaling evidence-informed interventions. She put in place foundational program concepts and led program developments that fueled the organization's youth service mission and led to its strategic shift toward education, resulting in research demonstrating that a year of service fosters long-lasting civic orientations and skills in young adults. Additionally, studies found that schools with City Year's innovative near-peer coaching services are likely to see significant academic and absenteeism improvements compared to similar schools without the program. Stephanie's passion and expertise for positive human development are rooted in her early career as a neighborhood organizer and youth developmentalist supporting Boston youth in school classrooms and out-of-school experiential programs. Her 30-plus years of enthusiasm for organizational transformation comes from working with the talented City Year teams that are always learning, find joy in service with communities, and remain deeply committed to young people and the AmeriCorps members who serve them. Stephanie is a 2015 – 2016 Pahara Education Fellow and has the privilege of serving on the boards of Achievement Network and City Year United Kingdom.