GCE-US Staff

Giulia McPherson
executive director, GCE-USGiulia McPherson (she/her) is the Executive Director of the Global Campaign for Education-US. She has 20 years of leadership experience in the humanitarian and development sectors and most recently served as Vice President of Advocacy and Operations at Jesuit Refugee Service/USA. Giulia has a Bachelors in Political Science from Villanova University and a Masters in International Development Studies from The George Washington University. She serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for Educate2Envision International, Chair of the Board of Directors for AMP Global Youth, a program of Americans for Informed Democracy, Treasurer of the Board of Directors for American Jesuits International, and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Nourishing Bethesda. Giulia received the 2022 Distinguished Alumna Award from her alma mater, the Academy of the Holy Cross, and was honored as a Top 20 in 2022 Advocacy Professional from the Advocacy Association and one of The Hill’s Top Lobbyists in 2023.

Suzanne Berman
Director, Government relations, GCE-USSuzanne Berman (she/her) is a policy and communications professional with more than 20 years of experience across the public, private, and non-profit sectors, currently serving as Senior Advisor with the Global Campaign for Education-US. As a Senior Consultant at Deloitte, Suzanne designed and implemented communications tools for federal and non-profit clients, engaging stakeholders and streamlining processes. At ChildFund, she built the organization's US government advocacy operation, developing its advocacy platform, annual lobby day, and child protection coalition. In her roles at CARE and Bread for the World, Suzanne conducted grassroots and grasstops organizing across 19 states on gender equity, maternal health, education, and food security. Suzanne holds a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin, a MA in Human Rights and Democratization from the University of Malta, and a BA in English from the College of William and Mary.

Kate Mallory
senior Fellow, GCE-USKate Mallory (she/her) is an undergraduate Honors student studying International Affairs at Northeastern University. Currently, she is a Senior Fellow with GCE-US, Co-Chair of the UNESCO SDG4Youth & Student Network's Human Rights Education Thematic Area, and a Program Manager at the UN Major Group for Children and Youth. She also served as a 100 Million Campaign’s USA Secretariat member and a Co-Chair of the United Nations Association of the USA’s Human-Rights Affinity Group. Kate has advocated for human rights on a global scale as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, the Convention on the Status of Women, the High-Level Political Forum, the ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment, and as a Youth Consultant to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. She is passionate about human rights and the global education movement.

Maha Shoaib
senior Fellow, GCE-USMaha Shoaib (she/her), a Fulbright Scholar from Pakistan, is currently pursuing a graduate degree in International Education Policy at the University of Maryland College Park. As a Graduate Fellow at the Global Campaign for Education - US (GCE-US), she actively contributes to promoting SDG4 by assisting in advocacy, public policy, strategic communications, and youth engagement. Maha aims to enhance her understanding of global education advocacy and policymaking, with a focus on implementing effective education policies. Previously, she worked at Teach For Pakistan, collaborating with stakeholders to expand access to quality education in a rural community in Islamabad. Maha is driven by her passion for developing sustainable education systems that offer equal opportunities for all children to learn, grow, and succeed.
GCE-US Board of Directors
Melaku Alito
Melaku Alito is the Chief Financial Officer of The ICCT (International Council on Clean Transportation). He is responsible for providing financial strategic and organizational leadership and day-to-day management and oversight of all finance, accounting, budgeting, financial planning, and financial reporting functions. Melaku has over 17 years of finance and accounting experience in the nonprofit industry. Over the years, he oversaw and managed the accounting, finance and financial reporting functions of various nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining the ICCT, Melaku served as Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, Director of Financial Reporting at Internet Society, Sr. Director of Finance/Controller at American Academy of Physician Assistants, and Director of Finance at National Volunteer Fire Council. Melaku has a Master’s Degree in Accounting and Financial Management, Master’s Degree in Economics, and Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the state of Virginia.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is the Executive Director of RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund (REF) and has been a part of RESULTS in a variety of capacities for over 20 years. Joanne became legislative director of RESULTS/REF in 1992 and associate executive director in 2007. As legislative director of RESULTS/REF, Joanne worked with key administration and congressional allies, partner organizations, and technical agencies orchestrating U.S. and international campaigns to tackle major diseases of poverty (particularly tuberculosis and major child killers), increase access to education, expand economic opportunity for the poorest, and reform World Bank and International Monetary Fund policies. An international expert and spokesperson on global poverty issues, Joanne regularly organizes media briefings on breaking legislative and technical news and works closely with the World Health Organization, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and other international organizations. She is also a founding board member of Global Action for Children.
Amanda Guarino
Amanda Guarino, Board Treasurer, is the Managing Director for the First Five Years Fund (FFYF), and has over a decade of experience and policy expertise in early childhood education and management. Guarino joined FFYF after nearly twelve years with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where she played a crucial role in the Administration for Children & Families’ management of programs that support early childhood education and development. Beginning in 2010, Guarino served as Management and Program Analyst within the Office of Child Care at the Administration for Children & Families. In this role she provided strategic direction, leadership, and consultation regarding the coordination and delivery of Technical Assistance (TA) activities. This coordination included implementation of process quality improvement, budget monitoring considerations, Child Care/Head Start collaboration activities, and effective communication across federal programs and TA projects. Guarino also managed several TA projects including the State Capacity Building Center, the next iteration of the State Systems Specialist Network. In this role she worked tirelessly to ensure the delivery of TA is systematic, of high quality, responsive to grantee needs, and outcome driven. Guarino holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the College of the Holy Cross and earned a Masters of Arts Degree in Social Work with a concentration in Administration from Columbia University in the city of New York. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and lives on Capitol Hill.
Ngozi Lawal
Ngozi Lawal, Board Chair, is the Principal of Early Actions, working to ensure every child reaches their full potential in school and life. Previously, Ngozi was the Project Director for the Center for the Study of Social Policy’s Prenatal to 3 Initiative, aimed at increasing the number of children on track for kindergarten in EC-LINC communities. Prior to joining CSSP, Ngozi supported the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Education at the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human in implementing a national policy agenda to help states and communities help babies, toddlers and preschoolers get ready for school. She oversaw the federal State Advisory Councils and played a key role in the policy development and implementation of the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge and Preschool Development Grants. Ngozi also managed the child care portfolio at the American Public Human Services Association, working alongside state child care administrators to develop policy proposals to improve implementation of the Child Care and Development Fund. She partnered with state child welfare directors to reduce the disproportionality of children of color in the child welfare system and improve the educational and social outcomes for youth who age out of foster care without permanent home placements. Ngozi began her career at Zero to Three where she tracked state and federal policies and initiatives on early childhood mental health. Ngozi has a Master of Arts Degree in Child Development from Tufts University and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Boston College.
Katie Loos
Across all of her work, Katie Loos supports young people to participate in and reimagine policymaking processes affecting their schools and communities. Katie is the Communications and Outreach Associate with the Center for Educational Equity at Columbia University's Teachers College. In this role, she supports advocacy, coalition management, research, and strategic communications focused on the right to education and equitable access to civic learning. Katie also leads the Center's youth programming as the DemocracyReady NY Coalition Youth Cohort Coordinator. Before this, Katie worked at education news publications and the Global Campaign for Education-US (GCE-US). She began her time at GCE-US in 2017 as an intern, continued as a research fellow throughout her undergraduate career, and returned in 2023 as a senior fellow. Katie is especially interested in civically engaged arts education, community schools, and student voice. In 2020, she co-founded the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit, Girlz by Design, where she teaches design thinking and digital arts workshops with high schoolers. Katie received a B.A. in Human Services & Social Justice from George Washington University and an M.A. in Education Policy and Social Analysis from Columbia University's Teachers College.
Christi Smith
Dr. Christi Smith is a sociologist focused on education, integration, and migration, holding a joint appointment at Georgetown University in the Institute for the Study of International Migration and the Program on Education, Inquiry, and Justice. Dr. Smith earned a B.A. from Smith College and both an M.A. in Education Policy and a Ph.D. in Sociology, with a focus on education and politics, from Indiana University. Before beginning graduate studies, she taught Danish and English literacy at a women's refugee center in Copenhagen, Denmark, and secondary Social Studies in North Carolina. During graduate studies, she worked at the Indiana University Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, contributing to both research and assessments for federal and state K-12 program grants. Dr. Smith was awarded the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation's Dissertation Fellowship. While serving as a visiting professor of Sociology at Oberlin College, she published her first book, Reparation and Reconciliation: The Rise and Fall of Integrated Higher Education, with the University of North Carolina Press. Dr. Smith has spent significant time as a visiting scholar at the Universities of Mannheim and Konstanz in Germany and at Aarhus University in Denmark.
Bonnie Taylor
Teresa Welsh
After a career in journalism spanning more than 15 years, Teresa founded Bloom Global Communications to deliver results to those at the forefront of food systems transformation. Teresa has on-the-ground reporting experience from 15 countries around the world, reporting on a wide range of global development issues. Bloom Global Communications offers a portfolio of specialized content services, including impact stories, white papers, opinion pieces, press releases, and website copy. Teresa leverages her vast events experience conceptualizing key messages and providing professional moderation to deliver curated event content services for organizations looking to take their impact off the page and onto the stage.
Prior to her role as a senior reporter at Devex, Teresa worked for the McClatchy Washington Bureau and U.S. News and World Report. She previously taught English in Colombia and has Bachelor of Arts degrees in Journalism and Latin American Studies from the University of Wisconsin.