Derrell Bradford is the president of 50CAN: The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now. In his role, Derrell leads communications and policy, and trains and recruits local leaders across the country to serve as executive directors of state CANs, advocacy fellows, and citizen advocates. He also leads the National Voices fellowship which focuses on education policy, media, and political collaboration.
Derrell previously served as the executive director at New Jersey’s Better Education for Kids. At B4K Derrell worked to secure passage of the tenure reform legislation TEACH NJ. Prior to B4K, Derrell spent nine years with New Jersey’s Excellent Education for Everyone (E3) as director of communications and then executive director. While there he also served on the state’s Educator Effectiveness Task Force.
Derrell is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (Pahara Fall 2016) and serves on several boards including Success Academy Charter Schools, yes. every kid., The Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) advisory board at Notre Dame, the Practitioner Council of the Hoover Institute’s Education Success Initiative, and the PIE Network. He was the founding board chair of EdBuild, is a senior visiting fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a member of the AEI Leadership Network. A native of Baltimore, Derrell attended the St. Paul’s School for Boys and the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a bachelor’s degree in English.
