The MLDS Center is overseen by a 15 member Governing Board. The Governing Board provides general oversight and direction of the Center including: approving the budget plan; establishing policies; creating and updating the Research Agenda; approving the Data Inventory; and approving External Researcher and Grant Funded Projects.
The membership of the Governing Board includes ten members designated by statute, including: Secretary of Higher Education; State Superintendent of Schools; Secretary of Labor; Secretary of the Department of Juvenile Services; Secretary of the Department of Human Services; Chancellor of the University System of Maryland; Executive Director of the Maryland Association of Community Colleges; President of the Maryland Independent Colleges and Universities Association; and President of Morgan State University. The remaining five members are appointed by the Governor. One of the Governor’s appointees must be a representative of local superintendents of schools; another must have expertise in large data systems and data security; and one must be the executive director of one of the health occupation boards under the Maryland Department of Health.
1. Portia Wu, Secretary, Maryland Department of Labor and MLDS Center Board Chair
Portia Wu joins the Moore-Miller administration from her most recent position as Managing Director of U.S. Public Policy at Microsoft, where she has worked since 2017. Wu is an experienced leader who has spent her career developing and implementing policies that benefit America’s workers. Before joining Microsoft, Wu served as Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training at the United States Department of Labor. In that role, she oversaw federal programs that provided employment services and job training to more than 15 million individuals each year. She also led the agency’s implementation of the bipartisan Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2015, which reformed federal workforce programs and instituted new accountability and reporting measures. From 2011 to 2014, Ms. Wu served at the White House Domestic Policy Council as Special Assistant and Senior Policy Advisor to President Barack Obama for Labor and Workforce. Wu also served as Labor Policy Director for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. She received a Master’s Degree in comparative literature from Cornell University and her Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School. She and her family live in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
2. Carey M. Wright Ed.D., State Superintendent of Schools
Carey M. Wright, Ed.D., was appointed State Superintendent of Schools by the Maryland State Board of Education in April 2024. A native Marylander, she previously served as State Superintendent of Education in Mississippi. She is credited with elevating Mississippi to become a national leader in literacy instruction and outcomes during her nine-year term from 2013 to 2022.
As the longest-serving Mississippi state superintendent, Dr. Wright led the implementation of successful education reforms that resulted in significant annual gains in English Language Arts and Mathematics proficiency. These initiatives increased literacy skills in pre-K through grade 3, pushed student achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to improve at a faster rate than nearly all other states, and achieved a higher graduation rate than the national average. During her tenure, Mississippi’s ranking for NAEP fourth-grade reading rose from 50th to 21st in the nation. Additionally, economically disadvantaged fourth-graders achieved higher NAEP reading and math scores than their peers, across racial and ethnic lines, both regionally and nationally.
This achievement resulted in Mississippi receiving the nation’s second-highest ranking for improvement from Education Week’s Quality Counts annual report card in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
A passionate advocate for early childhood education, Dr. Wright implemented Mississippi’s first publicly funded Early Learning Collaborative program, which earned recognition from the National Institute for Early Education Research as one of only five states meeting all 10 quality standards for early childhood education. In addition, Dr. Wright led initiatives that nearly doubled the Advancement Placement participation and success rate. She retired as Mississippi state superintendent in 2022.
Prior to her leadership in Mississippi, Dr. Wright was chief academic officer for District of Columbia Public Schools as well as deputy chief for the Office of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Wright also served as associate superintendent for the Office of Special Education and Student Services for Montgomery County Public Schools. She was a teacher, principal, and director of special education and student services in Howard County Public School System. A product of Prince George’s County Public Schools, she returned to begin her teaching career in the county schools.
Dr. Wright is a former member of the Chiefs for Change Board of Directors. Notably, the U.S. Secretary of Education appointed her in 2019 to the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for NAEP, the Nation’s Report Card. Her honors include the 2022 Mississippi Top 50 Most Influential Leaders Award. She is a University of Maryland graduate, earning undergraduate, advanced and doctoral degrees in education.
3. Sanjay Rai, Ph.D., Secretary, Maryland Higher Education Commission
Dr. Sanjay Rai is a higher education champion with more than 30 years of experience in faculty and leadership positions at a community college, liberal arts university, and state supported institution. He is recognized for his work globally as a faculty member, scholar, and leader.
His work has resulted in greater access, student success, and closing achievement gaps. He led the development of partnerships with K-12 along with business and industry, resulting in the creation of early college and new academic and training programs serving Cyber, Biotech, Information Technology, and Data Sciences. His work in this field also resulted in securing $25 million dollars in competitive grants to address the high-tech needs in the region and the state.
He has numerous publications including scholarly articles and his most recent book, “Basic Insights in Vector Calculus” published in 2020. He has been honored with numerous awards throughout his career, including Chief Academic Officer of the Year, Leadership Montgomery Outstanding Leader Award, and Excellence in Teaching Award.
Dr. Rai’s education includes degrees from India, Canada, and the United States, earning a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
4. Jay A. Perman, MD., Chancellor of the University System of Maryland
Jay A. Perman, MD, became the fifth chancellor of the University System of Maryland (USM) in January 2020. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Perman, a pediatric gastroenterologist, served as president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) for nearly a decade.
As UMB president, Dr. Perman strengthened that institution’s ties to the city of Baltimore, growing innovation-based economic development and spearheading programs to improve the health and well-being of UMB’s closest neighbors. In 2014, he established the Office of Community Engagement to coordinate UMB’s many outreach projects—with special emphasis on West Baltimore—and to leverage resources so that the university could respond quickly and effectively to community needs. In October 2019, ground was broken on a new Community Engagement Center that will serve as the cornerstone of UMB’s engagement efforts going forward. He also launched the UMB CURE Scholars program, which provides intensive mentoring for West Baltimore students interested in the STEM fields. In addition, he championed the award-winning Promise Heights Initiative, focused on preparing West Baltimore children for college and careers, and providing critical supports for their families.
Dr. Perman’s UMB presidency was marked by excellence in education and research. Each of UMB’s professional schools—medicine, law, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, and social work—has been singled out for recognition in national and international publications, most notably U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools, U.S. News & World Report’s Global University Rankings, and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. During Dr. Perman’s tenure, UMB’s extramural funding broke records; in FY 2018 and FY 2019, UMB attracted nearly $700 million in grants and contracts.
As UMB president, Dr. Perman worked closely with fellow USM institutions to advance the state’s top education, workforce, and innovation priorities. In Western Maryland, UMB partnered with Frostburg State University on its physician assistant (PA) master’s degree program, offered at the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown (USMH) to meet growing community demand. On the Eastern Shore, UMB partnered with Salisbury University, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Peninsula Regional Medical Center, and others on the Eastern Shore Center for Interprofessional Education, which delivers high-quality health care while enhancing team-based training for area health providers.
UMB has expanded its offerings at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG)—including dental, social work, and nursing programs—and is a key presence at USG’s new Biomedical Sciences and Engineering building, which houses a full-service community dental clinic operated by UMB’s School of Dentistry. With the University of Maryland, College Park, UMB leads MPowering the State, a structured alliance leveraging the two institutions’ complementary strengths to create opportunities for students, advance interdisciplinary research, and solve intractable problems in Maryland and the nation. Finally, UMB has partnered with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in several areas, including social work, biochemistry, and gerontology.
As chancellor, Dr. Perman has committed to advancing higher education affordability for all students in Maryland. He also plans to build on USM’s reputation for educational innovation, particularly in research, economic development, and community engagement. Above all, he seeks to fulfill what he sees as one of his core obligations as chancellor: ensuring that every person in Maryland who wants a college education is able to access it.
Dr. Perman received his Doctor of Medicine degree with Distinction in 1972 from Northwestern University. After his residency in pediatrics at Northwestern University Children’s Memorial Hospital, he completed a fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology at Harvard Medical School and at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston in 1977.
From 1977 to 1984, Dr. Perman was an assistant professor and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. He first came to Baltimore to work at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, serving as a professor of pediatrics and head of several divisions between 1984 and 1996. Dr. Perman was then named the Jessie Ball duPont Professor and Chair in the Department of Pediatrics at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College of Virginia, where he served from 1996 to 1999. From 1999 to 2004, he chaired the Department of Pediatrics at UMB’s School of Medicine, before leaving to become dean and vice president for clinical affairs at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 2004. In 2010, he returned to UMB as president.
Dr. Perman’s career includes service on many national and regional boards and committees, including chair of the Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board, as well as the boards of the Association of American Medical Colleges Council of Deans, the Children’s Cancer Foundation, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He is immediate past-chair of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore. Dr. Perman has also been active on issues involving specialized and regional accreditation—serving as chair of several Middle States review teams—and has played an active role in governance issues as chair of the USM Council of University System Presidents for the past four years.
Dr. Perman is a past president of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, a former section chair of the American Gastroenterological Association, and a former executive committee member of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He has been listed among “The Best Doctors in America” since 2001.
A native of Chicago, Dr. Perman and his wife, Andrea, a research nurse, have four adult children and nine grandchildren and reside in Baltimore.
5. David Wilson, Ed.D., President of Morgan State University
Dr. David Wilson is the President of Morgan State University. Dr. Wilson formerly served as the Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Colleges and University of Wisconsin Extensions. He has also served as the Assistant Provost at Auburn University
and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Dr. Wilson received his Ph.D. in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University, Masters Degrees from both Harvard University and the Tuskegee Institute and a B.S. in Political Science
from the Tuskegee Institute. He has received numerous awards and honors and has been a widely sought speaker and consultant on the strategic value of diversity in higher education. Dr. Wilson is a resident of Baltimore City.
6. Vincent Schiraldi, Secretary, Maryland Department of Juvenile Services
Vincent Schiraldi is a national leader in criminal/juvenile justice and mass incarceration reform, a field he has worked in for more than four decades. He previously served as Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Correction, and before that Columbia University, where he served as Senior Research Scientist at the Columbia School of Social Work and co-Director of the Columbia Justice Lab, working to reduce the footprint and negative impact of community corrections, eliminate youth prisons, and create a developmentally appropriate response to offending by young adults. Mr. Schiraldi went to Columbia from the Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice where he was a Senior Researcher. Mr. Schiraldi also has extensive government experience in criminal and juvenile justice. While Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Correction, he attempted to close Riker’s Island and end the practice of solitary confinement. Mr. Schiraldi also served as director of juvenile corrections in Washington DC, as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Probation, and as Senior Policy Adviser to the NYC Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. He also pioneered efforts at community-based alternatives to incarceration in NYC and Washington DC as founder and executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice and Justice Policy Institute, respectively. Schiraldi has lectured at the Columbia University School of Social Work, Harvard Law School, NYU School of Social Work, San Francisco University, and the Georgetown University Center for Juvenile Justice Reform. Schiraldi received a Master’s in Social Work from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Binghamton University.
7. Rafael López, Secretary, Maryland Department of Human Services
Appointed by Governor Wes Moore and confirmed by the Maryland Senate, Rafael López serves as the Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Human Services. He joined the Moore-Miller Administration from the United States Department of Health and Human Services where he most recently served as a Senior Advisor to the Administration for Children and Families. In the Biden-Harris Administration, López helped reunite more than 170,000 unaccompanied children with their families or other vetted sponsors at the height of the largest surge of unaccompanied children in U.S. history. He is recognized as a national leader in human services and for leading complex organizations across sectors to improve the lives of children, families, and communities.
8. Brad Phillips, Ed.D., Executive Director of the Maryland Association of Community Colleges
Dr. Brad Phillips became MACC’s executive director on July 1, 2021. Dr. Phillips works with the Maryland Council of Community College Presidents to determine and execute strategic initiatives for the community colleges, represent the colleges at the state and national level and promote the attributes of community colleges to all Marylanders. Dr. Phillips has over 20 years of experience in higher education policy having worked at MACC since 2008 and before that at the Maryland Higher Education Commission. Dr. Phillips received his Doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Southern Adventist University. He currently teaches a course on higher education public policy in the Higher Education Administration Master’s Program at Georgetown University.
9. Matthew Power, President of the Maryland Independent College and University Association
Matthew Power is President of the Maryland Independent College and University Association (MICUA), a voluntary association of 15 private, nonprofit colleges and universities located in Maryland. MICUA provides public policy leadership and support of higher education, fosters cooperative efforts among colleges and universities, and serves as the official liaison between these independent institutions and the State and federal governments. In addition, Mr. Power serves as the Managing Director of the Independent College Fund of Maryland, which works with Maryland’s business community to improve college access, choice, and opportunities by raising funds to provide scholarships and grants to students attending twelve independent institutions in the State.
Prior to serving as MICUA’s President, Mr. Power served as the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for Anne Arundel County Maryland. In that role, he oversaw county government, including 18 departments, a $2 billion operating budget, a $700M+ capital budget, and a staff of 6,000. Mr. Power led the county’s response to COVID-19 as well as its recovery and reopening efforts. He actively modernized County operations and systems to improve services for county residents. He was also Chair of the County’s Pension Board, the Self Insurance Fund, and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee. He spearheaded numerous new initiatives and was instrumental in securing the transfer of the Crownsville Hospital complex to the County. Prior to becoming CAO, he served as Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Land Use. In that role, he oversaw the Departments of Public Works, Inspections and Permits, Recreation and Parks as well as the Offices of Planning and Transportation
Previously, Mr. Power served as the Vice President for Government Relations for MICUA. In that role, he served as the primary lobbyist for higher education issues in Annapolis. He managed the association’s business affiliate program and led numerous consortium initiatives to drive down costs for member institutions.
Mr. Power was appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley as the Director of StateStat in 2013. StateStat is a performance measurement and managerial process that made state government more efficient and accountable. In this role, Mr. Power chaired weekly meetings with Cabinet Secretaries and agency leadership to analyze agency performance, track priority initiatives, and question standard operating procedures. Agency data was carefully analyzed by a team of StateStat analysts, performance trends are closely monitored, and strategies to achieve improved performance are developed through a series of meetings designed to ensure relentless follow-up and reassessment. Mr. Power was a strong advocate for transparency and open data initiatives throughout Maryland.
Mr. Power was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Maryland Department of Planning in 2007. He managed a broad range of operational, management and program functions. His roles with the Department of Planning included work as the Director of Policy Evaluation and Development. In 2002, he became Director of Operations for the department, reinvigorating the financial management of the agency and leading the merger of the Maryland Historical Trust into the Maryland Department of Planning. Mr. Power served as Chairman of the Maryland Heritage Areas and a member of the Maryland Green Building Council and was the Governor’s alternate on the Appalachian Regional Commission. He is a graduate of Leadership Maryland, Class of 2011 and a Certified Project Management Professional. He began his employment with the department in 1999. His professional career started with the Department of Legislative Services, providing legislative oversight to Maryland’s environmental agencies.
10. Jason Dykstra, Chief Accountability Officer, Anne Arundel County Public Schools
Jason Dykstra has been Executive Director of the Instructional Data Division at Anne Arundel County Public Schools, located in central Maryland, since 2014. Overseeing a division with four departments – Accountability, Accountability, Research, Student Data, and Testing – with a mission to “collect, analyze, and apply instructional data with integrity,” Jason has helped lead the district through Common Core initiatives, new assessments and evaluation standards, ever-changing State and Federal accountability systems, and evolving data reporting requirements. Under Jason’s leadership, the division has successfully implemented four new platforms to better support schools and the district.
Prior to his current position, Jason spent the majority of his 32-year career in schools. He was a math teacher, department chair, and administrator in several different schools before continuing to serve children for nine years as principal at the middle school and high school levels. Jason was named the Maryland Principal of the Year in 2013 and the Chesapeake Region Association of Student Councils Principal of the Year in 2010. He became the school system’s Director of Accountability & Testing in 2013.
Jason currently serves on the Governing Board for the state Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center and has received the Maryland Governor’s Citation for Instructional Leadership. He has attended and presented at numerous professional conferences and is a member of the Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, the National Association of Secondary Schools Principals, the Association for Middle Level Education, and the National Council on Measurement in Education.
Jason earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics Education from Indiana University in 1991 and a master’s degree in Education – Administration & Supervision from The Johns Hopkins University in 1997.
Jason has been married to his wife, Eleni, for 27 years. They have two children who graduated from Clemson and St. Lawrence universities. In his younger days, Jason was a professional water skier at Sea World and more recently a professional ski instructor at Whitetail Ski Resort. He enjoys skiing, golf, boating, fixing things, fishing, and spending time with his family.
11. Laurie Kendall-Ellis, PT, CAE, Executive Director Maryland Board of Physical Therapy Examiners
Laurie Kendall-Ellis is the Executive Director of the Maryland Board of Physical Therapy Examiners. With more than 40 years of experience in healthcare and management, Mrs. Kendall-Ellis is responsible for the executive management, supervision, creative thought, strategic planning, administrative oversight and advancing the mission of protecting the health, safety, and welfare of all Marylanders through the promotion and oversight of the Physical Therapy Practice Act.
Before becoming Executive Director of the Maryland Board of Physical Therapy Examiners, Mrs. Kendall-Ellis was the Executive Director for the following organizations: the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions, the Private Practice Section of the American Physical Therapy Association, and the Institute of Private Practice Physical Therapy. She was also, for over 20 years, Principal Owner of Allied Health Rehabilitation, Inc.
Being civically and volunteer focused, Mrs. Kendall-Ellis currently serves as an election judge for Montgomery County. Her past civic and volunteer service has been as President of the West Haven Rotary Club, Director on the Board of Directors for the West Haven Community House, West Haven Chamber of Commerce, and Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce as well as President of the Greater New Haven Healthcare Council.
Mrs. Kendall-Ellis holds a Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut and in 2013, became a Certified Association Executive (CAE) through ASAE & the Center for Association Leadership.
Mrs. Kendall-Ellis and her husband Harvey reside in Bethesda and have two adult children.
12. Rudy D. Anthony
Rudy D. Anthony was raised in Prince George’s County, MD. After graduating from Charles Herbert Flowers High School in 2006, he attended Prince George’s Community College. After he joined the United States Marine Corps, serving honorably at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point as an Information Systems Technician. After completing his tour of duty, Rudy returned to Bowie, MD. He attended the University of the District of Columbia, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, and advancing his career as a Cyber Security Engineer by working for multiple federal agencies. He is currently pursuing his Masters in Homeland Security. Currently Rudy works as an Identity Access Management subject matter expert. He also is the current President of Prince George’s County Young Democrats.
13. Hussainatu Blake, Education & Workforce Strategist, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Hussainatu Blake(“Hussa”) leads the Foundation’s work to build educational opportunity and a diverse, digitally literate workforce in collaboration with foundation leadership, experts & researchers, and external stakeholders. Hussa spent 13 years providing education/workforce opportunities via the use of technology, strategic partnerships & programming. She has global experience in education/workforce development that includes for-profit, non-profit, government, & academia.Hussa is also Adjunct Faculty at Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) and Baltimore City Community College. She has a BA from Tufts University, a MA from Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS), and a JD from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School.
14. Susan Sterett, Director of the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Susan Sterett joined UMBC as director of the School of Public Policy in August 2017. She received her B.A. from the University of California, San Diego, and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. She teaches in the politics of law and courts, and has taught in the emerging field of collaboration, data sciences, and ethics. She has run workshops on cross-disciplinary collaboration to improve data analytics, and participated in working groups on law and big data. She has previously worked as a professor at Virginia Polytechnic and State University, and as a program officer in law and social sciences at the National Science Foundation. She has served as co-editor of a peer-reviewed journal, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Law and Society Association. Currently she writes on accessing law and social welfare benefits in disaster. Before moving east, she worked as a professor, chair and associate dean at the University of Denver. She lives in Baltimore City, currently with her adult daughter and their newly-acquired dog. She and her daughter both attended and graduated from public schools, in California, Colorado and Virginia. When they can, they enjoy the Maryland parks.
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