Dr. Aaliyah A. Samuel is the President and CEO of CASEL, the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization leading the global movement for evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL). She also serves as Senior Fellow, Harvard University, Center on the Developing Child. In these roles, Dr. Samuel serves as a leading voice in education and oversees strategies to elevate research, policies, and practices that support children’s learning and healthy development.

Dr. Samuel is a bilingual executive leader with expertise from early childhood through higher education. Dr. Samuel previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary, Local, State and National Engagement at the U.S. Department of Education and former Executive Vice President of Government Affairs & Partnerships at NWEA. She has informed state policy agendas, assisted with developing cross systems approaches to develop policy solutions to support children and families and leading systems-level change. In her role at NWEA, she led a team working on driving a state and federal education agenda. Prior to NWEA, Dr. Samuel was the Director of Education at the National Governors Association (NGA), supporting high-ranking state officials on the development of policies that impacted health, education, and workforce. In every role, she works with diverse constituents, philanthropies, national and international partners.

She has testified before Congress and has been quoted in Bloomberg, Education Week, U.S. News, and the Washington Post on various education topics, and featured on network segments such as Univision, NBC and CNN. Dr. Samuel presents at numerous education conferences and convenings nationally, internationally and is seen as a global leader. She holds an undergraduate degree from Tuskegee University, a Masters from University of South Florida, and a Specialist and Doctorate Degree from NOVA Southeastern.