Maribel Duran will serve as Chief of Staff in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. In this role, she will manage the front office team, focus on strategic planning and management of priorities and cross-agency collaboration, provide leadership in the development and implementation of the office’s major policies and administration of programs and grants, and oversee the operations and communications of the team. Since 2013, Maribel has served as Chief of Staff for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, which strives to strengthen the nation by expanding educational opportunities and improving educational outcomes for Hispanics of all ages through the development of public policy, informing federal programming, the organization of civic engagement events with private- and public sector national, state, and local community leaders, parents and students, and collaboration with the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics and the Federal Interagency Working Group on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, which she managed. Maribel managed all strategic communications, including social media platforms, reaching over 100K stakeholders across the country. Maribel also led the early learning and STEM education portfolios and mentored over 60 student interns. In 2015, the WHIEEH celebrated its 25th Anniversary, and Maribel helped it secure over 150 Commitments to Action with a collective investment of over $335 million to build on and accelerate federal, state, and local investments in high-quality education for the nation’s Hispanic community, and identify over 230 Bright Spots in Hispanic Education. ED’s longest serving appointee, Maribel joined ED in 2009 and served for four years as Special Assistant to former Secretary Duncan, in which she managed the Secretary’s day-to-day activities and priorities and created many administrative and operational processes still in place today, including the briefing materials process. Prior to joining ED, Maribel served the Chicago Public Schools system in multiple roles, first as high school student in a work-study program and last as Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer. Maribel currently represents ED on the White House Council on Women and Girls, has served on ED’s Diversity Working Group and Supporting ED’s Parents Affinity Group. Maribel graduated holds a bachelor of English Language and Literature magna cum laude from Southern New Hampshire University.