About Russlynn
Bio
Russlynn Ali is Managing Director of Education at the Emerson Collective on loan to XQ Institute as Chief Executive Officer, a collaboration dedicated to designing high schools that will best serve American students for years to come. Russlynn served as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education from 2009 to 2012, acting as Secretary Arne Duncan’s lead advisor on equity and civil rights. Prior to her work in the Obama Administration, Russlynn served as vice president of the Education Trust in Washington, D.C. and ran Education Trust-West, in Oakland. Russlynn’s professional background also includes experience as a teacher, attorney, liaison for the president of the Children’s Defense Fund, assistant director of policy and research at the Broad Foundation, and chief of staff to the president of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education.