Jennifer Cotter, Vice President

Jennifer Cotter, vice president, partners with education innovators to rethink time, space, curriculum, human and social capital, and the demonstration of competency to build global competence and career & college readiness. Cotter helps to foster dynamic cross-sector partnerships by supporting network growth and development opportunities. She also builds language and processes to develop clear, strategic messaging that connects organizations with their key stakeholders through traditional, new and social media, and launches their work into a national dialogue on learning.

Cotter helps innovation partners, such as School of One and World Wide Workshop, develop branding and marketing materials that make their models accessible to multiple audiences. She also convenes leaders in the field through in-person and virtual events, as well as online communities, to create a knowledge base and agenda for collective action. Most recently, she worked with Harvard Graduate School of Education to host the Unleashing Education Innovation convening, which brought together researchers, funders, private sector partners, policymakers and practitioners to design a vision for the future and commit to accelerating transformation in teaching and learning.

Cotter also works with leading education and community development organizations, such as Microsoft Partners in Learning, to produce tools and processes for mapping opportunities and partnerships at a national and global level. She helps capture and share stories of impact for organizations like the National Education Association Foundation through case studies and webinar series. She supports organizations such as the National Academy Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation to synthesize relevant information for the career and technical education field in order to move ideas to action.

Cotter brings an expertise in both policy and practice to the Collaborative team. She has worked in a variety of educational settings including research institutes, public and charter schools, and private and nonprofit education organizations in Philadelphia, Tampa, Boston and San Francisco. Most recently, she served as a program director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco where she worked to increase educational opportunities for formerly homeless youth and families.

Cotter holds a master's degree in International Education Policy from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and a bachelor's degree in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a graduate of the Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP), the flagship leadership program of the Institute of Educational Leadership, and currently serves as a coordinator for the program (since 2010). Cotter is also a member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) Recent Alumni Circle Committee of Washington, DC, which connects alumni of the past ten years with the mission, work and community of HGSE.