VIRGINIA

Virginia governor-elect chooses education secretary as first cabinet pick

Guidera is the first cabinet secretary Youngkin has announced.

Author: Matt Pusatory (WUSA9)
Published: 10:05 AM EST December 20, 2021
Updated: 2:21 PM EST December 20, 2021

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin announced the first member of his cabinet Monday, selecting Aimee Rogstad Guidera to serve as the next Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth.

Guidera is currently the President of Guidera Strategy and is the former founder and chief executive of the Data Quality Campaign. Before that, she served as the director of the Washington, D.C., office of the National Center for Education Achievement. She is a Maryland native who moved to Virginia with her husband in 1995.

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The governor-elect added that he believes Guidera stands united with him in his belief that parents "deserve to have a voice" in the education of their children, reiterating his promise to remove politics from school.

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Aimee Rogstad Guidera

PRESIDENT, GUIDERA STRATEGY

FOUNDER, FORMER PRESIDENT & CEO, DATA QUALITY CAMPAIGN

Aimee Rogstad Guidera is the former President and CEO of the Data Quality Campaign (DQC), a national, nonprofit organization leading the effort to empower educators, students, parents, and policymakers with the information they need to make the best decisions to improve student outcomes. Aimee believes that data have the power to transform education to ensure every child in this country is prepared for success in college and careers. Since it launched in 2005, the education and policy fields have come to rely on DQC’s research and landscape analyses as the only source of information that captures the “state of the states” on effective data use—first with the 10 Essential Elements of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems, and then with the 10 State Actions to Ensure Effective Data Use. Aimee continues to advocate for better access to and use of data so that educators, parents, and policymakers will have the insights they need to inform better decisions to support student achievement. A respected thought leader in education, Aimee was named one of TIME's 12 Education Activists of 2012. She has also been cited as an expert on education policy and the value of education data by publications such as Business Week, NPR, and Education Week. Aimee is a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow and an alumna of the Institute for Educational Leadership’s Education Policy Fellowship Program. She serves on the board of directors of the Institute for Educational Leadership and the Friends of the Hennepin County (Minnesota) Library. Before founding DQC, Aimee served as the director of the Washington, DC, office of the National Center for Educational Achievement. She previously served as vice president of programs for the National Alliance of Business (NAB), worked in the education division of the National Governors Association’s Center for Best Practices, and taught for the Japanese Ministry of Education. Aimee received her bachelor's degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and earned a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Aimee and her husband, Bill, are the parents of two school-age daughters. She is an active supporter of her daughters’ public schools and has served as a classroom volunteer, parentteacher organization leader, and advisory committee member. Aimee believes that parents, students, and teachers need to be equally strong legs of the stool of academic success.