Michael J. Petrilli

Vice President for National Programs & Policy

Mike Petrilli is Vice President for National Programs and Policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, where he oversees the Institute's research projects and publications, including The Education Gadfly. He is also research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Executive Editor of Education Next, and contributor to Fordham's Flypaper blog. Petrilli is author, with Frederick M. Hess, of No Child Left Behind: A Primer. He comes to the Institute from the U.S. Department of Education, where he served as Associate Assistant Deputy Secretary in the Office of Innovation and Improvement. In that role, he oversaw approximately two-dozen discretionary grant programs that support a variety of education reforms, including alternate routes to certification, charter schools, and more, and helped to implement the No Child Left Behind act. Before working at the Department of Education, he was Vice President of Community Partnerships at K12, an Internet education company. He started his career as a teacher at the Joy Outdoor Education Center in Clarksville, Ohio. Mr. Petrilli holds a Bachelor's degree in Honors Political Science from the University of Michigan and a teaching certificate in high school social studies. He lives with his wife Meghan and sons Nico and Leandro in Takoma Park, Maryland.