Russlynn Ali

Russlynn Ali has been a leading voice in education for more than two decades. In 2015, she and Laurene Powell Jobs co-founded the XQ Institute, the country’s foremost organization dedicated to rethinking high school. She currently serves as XQ’s CEO and as Managing Director of the Education Fund at Emerson Collective. Ali began her career at the law firm Sheppard Mullin, before moving into leadership positions at the Advancement Project, the Broad Foundation, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and the Children’s Defense Fund. She was also the founder of Education Trust–West in California and VP of Education Trust in Washington, DC. Before joining the Emerson Collective, Ali served as assistant secretary of education for civil rights during the first Obama administration, and is widely credited with reinvigorating civil rights enforcement in U.S. education.