Washington, D.C. — The federal education policy environment is undergoing dramatic and continuous change. Every federal education and workforce program is due, or overdue, for consideration. Much of the policy initiative has shifted to the executive branch, and states are playing a larger role in how federal initiatives are implemented. As a result, understanding and influencing education policy is more complicated than ever — requiring knowledge of congressional policy and budget initiatives, state policy environments, waivers, new grant programs with varying and unique requirements, and complex executive branch rulings. In addition, potential policy solutions require deeper understanding of the systems that impact education, from early childhood to nutrition to K-12 education to higher education to workforce development and training to national service.

Penn Hill Group, Washington’s premier bipartisan education policy firm, is responding to this new landscape by adding veteran education experts and forming new strategic partnerships to help clients — new and existing — adapt to this ever-changing, complex environment.

• We will be adding Tom Corwin, a highly-regarded, 30-year U.S. Department of Education veteran, to deepen our knowledge and influence of executive branch budgets and policy initiatives.

• We are adding senior House Committee staffer Kara Marchione to enhance our policy expertise in K–12 education, literacy, early education, national service, nutrition, and adult education.

• Elizabeth Cohen is joining our team to provide administrative and project support on both policy analysis and internal operations.

• We are creating strategic partnerships with noted education expert Cheryl Sattler, author of Let’s Talk Title I, to provide deeper understanding of federal policy implementation at the state and local leval, and Anna Suarez and her grant writing team at Trivium Consulting to help advise our clients on federal grant opportunities.

With these new additions, Penn Hill Group will continue to have the experience, policy knowledge, procedural expertise, and relationships that are second to none in the education policy field.

Penn Hill Group Team Additions

Tom Corwin, Senior Advisor will be joining Penn Hill Group with more than 30 years of experience at the U.S. Department of Education, where he served as senior executive in the Budget Service. His knowledge and understanding of the federal education budget at all levels — from developing the President’s annual budget to negotiating the intricate details of funding through the appropriations process — are unmatched. Corwin has helped drive budget decisions and create and shape policy on the education of disadvantaged and at-risk children, K–12 education reform and accountability, teacher quality, STEM education, and career and technical education.

Kara Marchione, Vice President, comes to Penn Hill Group with more than a decade of experience working on Capitol Hill, in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. She most recently served as senior education policy advisor for Rep. George Miller on the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, where she worked on K–12 education policy issues, adult education, child nutrition, and national service.

Elizabeth Cohen, Operations Associate, brings exceptional writing, research, and organizational skills to her work at Penn Hill Group. Her most recent experience has been working with the Campaign for High School Equity.

Strategic Partnerships

Penn Hill Group is pleased to announce strategic partnerships with key policy experts that will help provide a greater depth of knowledge at the federal, state, and local levels as well as additional research and grant writing services.

Cheryl Sattler, Consultant, is a senior partner at Ethica, LLC, and national expert in federal K–12 education budget and policy implementation. She has spent more than a decade in Washington, D.C., including writing for the Title I Monitor and the Title I Handbook. She also served as the bureau chief for federal programs at the Florida Department of Education. Sattler consults widely with policymakers, advocates, researchers, school districts, and schools. Her latest book, Let’s Talk Title I: What Every Administrator Needs to Know, was published in 2011 by LRP Publications.

Anna Suarez, Consultant, is a principal at Trivium Consulting, where she assists clients in targeting and securing external funding support. Working with multiple federal agencies and private foundations, Suarez helps clients identify new funding sources and secure the resources needed to further their strategic goals. Suarez spent several years at the National Science Foundation as a program director in the Division of Research and Learning, where she worked extensively with teacher enhancement projects to promote mathematics reform.