Venitia Richardson is the Director of the Effective Educator Development (EED) program office for the United States Department of Education. Prior to her time with the Department, she dedicated twenty years of her career in service to the children and families of Hartford, Connecticut, with great passion, commitment, and pride in several roles with the Hartford Public schools: special education teacher, behavioral specialist, district inclusion facilitator, assistant director in the Office for Student Support Services, middle school assistant principal, and founding principal of Opportunity High School, a high school designed as part of the district’s reform process. Venitia began on her path of youth service working for the YMCA of Greater Delaware (Dover, DE) and Greater Hartford (East Hartford, CT). 

Venitia holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut in Educational Psychology, a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Connecticut, and a sixth-year degree in Educational Leadership from Central Connecticut State University. She is also a veteran of The United States Air Force. 

Cynthia Hunter is the TSL Program Team Lead and the Senior Program Advisor for the School Ambassador Fellowship Program at the United States Department of Education. She offers over 15 years of educational experience in a variety of roles from teacher leader, student advocate, and education consultant. 

Dedicated to social justice and education reform, Cynthia has been decorated for her work by some of education’s most prestigious organizations, including the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), the National Education Association (NEA), Teach Plus, and the United States Department of Education. Cynthia officially joined the Department of Education’s Effective Educator Development Division in 2019 as a Program Officer and as a member of the division’s National Engagement Team. 

Cynthia holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Loyola University of Chicago and a Master of Arts in Administration and Supervision from Saint Xavier University of Chicago. 

Mia Howerton is Group Leader with the United States Department of Education. She offers 20 years of discretionary grant experience, having managed grants in the Offices of Postsecondary Education, Innovation and Improvement, and Elementary and Secondary Education. Prior to joining the Department, she was a middle and high school social studies teacher for eight years in Richmond Public Schools. The choice to trade in her chalkboard for a “Request for Proposals/Notice Inviting Applications” came with the desire to serve students on a broader scale. 

In addition to her work with the Department, Mia is mom to Jordyn and feels this is her most rewarding job yet. She believes in the importance of bringing fun into the workplace and acknowledges that while we will not always like every aspect of our work, when we work with folks who make us smile and with folks who don’t mind getting into a little “good trouble,” the rough times will not seem so bad. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. 

Mia holds a Bachelor of Science in History and Political Science Education from Virginia Union University. 

Orman Feres is the Group Leader for the Teacher and School Leader (TSL) Incentive Program and leads the Teach to Lead and School Ambassador Fellowship programs. He joined the United States Department of Education in 2016 to support efforts and initiatives aimed at increasing students’ access to effective educators. 

Before joining the Department, Orman worked on important issues in the field of P-12 education for over 15 years. In 2001, he went to work for the District of Columbia Public Schools, where he managed the District’s educator preparation accreditation and program approval system and related teacher quality data collection efforts. In 2007, he joined the District of Columbia’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), where he oversaw a broad portfolio of educator quality and effectiveness initiatives including the District’s educator preparation accountability system, educator licensure and credentialing processes, and the system for recognizing exemplary educators. During his tenure at OSSE, Orman led the push toward creation of new credentialing regulations that use educator performance as a significant factor in making credentialing decisions. 

Orman holds a Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Master of Science in Education from Walden University with a concentration in Elementary Reading and Literacy.