Erin Hart is senior vice president and chief of policy and community impact at Education Forward Arizona.   

Hart strongly believes in the power of collaboration to solve Arizona’s most pressing P-20 education issues. Throughout her career, Hart has been a coalition-builder, working across sectors and communities to create shared leadership, decisions, and responsibility that lead to co-creating and achieving common goals. 

Hart leads Education Forward Arizona’s policy and convening efforts, working to bring communities together to advance agreed-upon policy goals. She brings two decades of experience in Arizona and national education policy, coalition building, strategic communications, strategy development and nonprofit leadership. 

Hart has led a number of collaborative efforts that have had significant influence on P-20 education policy in Arizona. She convened 200+ partners to create the Arizona Education Progress Meter and its eight indicators of success, from early learning to college attainment, as well as the Roadmap for P-20 Education Funding. She also led advocacy, communications and outreach efforts statewide to manage a diverse coalition of 80+ partners who successfully developed Arizona’s academic standards to prepare students for college and career. Hart also created the state’s first and largest teacher survey in response to COVID-19, to which more than 11,000 educators responded.  

Most recently, at Expect More Arizona, Hart created advocacy campaigns to support/oppose specific legislation, developed strategies to build public and political will, and worked to pass ballot initiatives. Hart has worked for two Arizona Governors and the nation’s largest child advocacy organization, the National Parent Teacher Association. She also has experience developing strategic partnerships with non-profit, for-profit and government agencies, including The White House, US Department of Education, Nickelodeon, Consumer Reports, NBC Universal, Starbucks, Phoenix Suns and others.

Hart is a sought-after thought leader on P-20 education issues. She’s also interviewed regularly for TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, and online publications. She’s testified and presented to state boards and committees on priority education issues. 

Hart is a proud graduate of Arizona State University, where she earned a Master of Public Administration degree, and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the WP Carey School of Business. She is a graduate of Valley Leadership and the Flinn-Brown Civic Leadership Institute. She is a recipient of Phoenix Business Journal “Forty Under 40” Award, a Do Gooders Arizona Award, and Phoenix Suns & National Bank of Arizona Amazing Woman Award. 

Hart currently serves on more than a dozen state and local boards and committees representing the P-20 education continuum.