Staff

Chief Growth Officer

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Valentina Payne is the Chief Growth Officer for brightbeam, overseeing operations, fundraising, and strategic growth of the organization. She joined Education Post in 2014 as Deputy Director of Policy, building on her work as a Legislative Projects Manager at StudentsFirst, where she worked in a handful of states across the U.S. to ensure quality education policies were being passed into law. Valentina has also worked in Ann Arbor Public Schools and Detroit Public Schools, where she focused on the intersection of the education system and the juvenile justice system.

She has a bachelor’s in Spanish and criminal justice and a master’s degree in education policy from the University of Michigan, and is deeply passionate about creating an education system that serves all students.