Dr. Meria Carstarphen has more than 20 years of transformational leadership and executive management experience in education, with a track record of dramatically improving student and organizational outcomes. Nationally recognized as a successful and experienced public education leader skilled at managing billion-dollar organizations efficiently and effectively, her collective impact spans over 800,000 students, more than 20,000 employees and hundreds of schools. Over her career, she has served as teacher and administrator, and, in the role of superintendent, led the major metropolitan American public school districts including Atlanta, Georgia; Austin, Texas; and Saint Paul, Minnesota. Most recently, she joined Gallup as a Senior Scientist, their first ever in education.

Most recently, Morgan State University in Maryland has appointed her as the inaugural director of the National Center for the Elimination of Educational Disparities (NCEED). In this role, her primary objective is to research and solve longstanding inequities in education for our most vulnerable and disenfranchised student groups so they can have choice-filled lives. Dr. Carstarphen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and Spanish from Tulane University, Master of Education degrees from Harvard University and Auburn University graduate schools, and a doctorate in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy with a concentration in urban superintendency from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has also studied at the University of Seville, Spain, and the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

Dr. Carstarphen has experience in research, journalism, and documentary photography. She is a recovering marathon runner and a dedicated mentor to many.  She hails from Selma, Alabama, where she was born and raised in a family of four girls.