Teach For America Names Aneesh Sohoni New Chief Executive Officer

Sohoni, the current CEO of One Million Degrees, is a Teach For America Twin Cities 2009 alumnus and former executive director of Teach For America Greater Chicago-Northwest Indiana

NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Teach For America (TFA), the nonprofit organization that finds, develops and supports exceptional, diverse leaders committed to ensuring all children have the opportunity to attain an excellent education, announced today that Aneesh Sohoni will become the organization's next chief executive officer, effective April 15. Sohoni succeeds Elisa Villanueva Beard, who announced her plans a year ago to step down from the CEO role after twenty-seven years with the organization.

"Following a comprehensive search for a strategic and visionary leader to build on Teach For America's almost thirty-five years of impact with kids and communities across the country, the Board reached the unanimous decision that Aneesh Sohoni is the right person to lead Teach For America as chief executive officer," said David Kenny, chair of the Teach For America Board of Directors and executive chairman at Nielsen. "Aneesh has a vision for TFA, built on the momentum and collective leadership of TFA alumni, teachers, tutors, and staff, to move the organization forward with confidence and conviction, in partnership with over 300 communities across the country, to ensure all children have access to an excellent education."

The Teach For America board conducted a search to identify a new CEO who is:

• A strategic and visionary leader with a deep passion for TFA's mission and values and unrelenting focus on making significant, measurable impact for children.
• Future-oriented and optimistic, willing to take bold action as appropriate and adopt a creative and forward-looking approach to build upon TFA's legacy of impact and embrace technology to advance TFA's ambitious 2030 goals of placing more children on a path toward economic mobility and co-creating a future filled with possibility.
• An energizing leader to the TFA community and an inspirational ambassador to the public, raising TFA's profile and inspiring all with a message for change that will resonate across diverse stakeholders.
• Pragmatic and collaborative with a focus on implementable solutions that reflect the needs of the more than 300 communities we work alongside to effect change.

"As I take on the role of CEO of Teach For America, I am inspired by what is possible and hopeful that the current trajectory of education and learning in our country does not have to define our future," said Sohoni. "We've seen communities defy the trends and create progress and opportunities for students, and I'm proud that TFA prioritizes coalition-building with students and community members to co-create and achieve a shared vision for a future that is brighter than today. Through the goals that local TFA executive directors and their teams have set in partnership with students, families and schools in their communities, my fellow TFA alumni, teachers and tutors are all working together to improve third grade reading and fourth and eighth grade math gains, and to increase the number of students who are college and career ready by 2030. I'm eager to get into even closer partnership in this work as I step into the CEO role."

Sohoni is a Teach For America Twin Cities 2009 alumnus and former executive director of Teach For America Greater Chicago-Northwest Indiana. Since 2021, Sohoni has been the chief executive officer of One Million Degrees, a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating community college students' progress on career pathways to economic mobility. Under his leadership, One Million Degrees has been at the forefront of providing comprehensive academic, financial, personal and professional support to community college students, helping low-income students overcome barriers to graduation. Sohoni has significantly expanded the organization's reach and impact, improving retention, graduation rates, and long-term career success of participating students. During his tenure, their numbers have nearly quadrupled from 650 to 2,400.

Inspired by his family's immigrant story, Sohoni knows how access to educational opportunities can unlock a life full of possibility. It was his experience as a TFA corps member, working with his high school English students, that brought to life for Sohoni the limitless potential of students and the need to ensure all students have access to opportunities to meet their full potential. Since his time as a classroom teacher, Sohoni has worked in the public and nonprofit sectors supporting education efforts, including with the Tennessee Department of Education and TNTP. 

Until Sohoni officially becomes CEO on April 15, Elisa Villanueva Beard will continue to lead the organization alongside a strong leadership team, board, and staff.

"I speak on behalf of the entire TFA community when I say we are extremely grateful to Elisa for her twenty-seven years of leadership and commitment to Teach For America," said Kenny. "The Board is confident in TFA's future because Elisa has shown us what is possible alongside an amazing world-class team, and Aneesh has the vision to carry that impact forward, building on the current momentum to benefit all children."

In an end-of-year letter in December, Villanueva Beard underscored how TFA's scale and impact position the organization to uniquely contribute in this moment:

• TFA has gained momentum and grown the corps by almost 50% over the last two years. The corps is 57% people of color, 45% first generation college students, and 10% people who were taught by corps members themselves. About 30% of the current corps are teaching in high-needs STEM classrooms. 
• TFA teachers continue to have a significant impact on student learning and growth. Recently, the American Institutes for Research published a meta-analysis that examined over two decades of research on TFA teachers and found that they have had a consistent and significant impact on students' learning. This research included 23 studies of TFA's impact spanning 24 years – including more than 63,000 teachers and over 5 million students. 
• Responding to community needs, TFA's Ignite Fellowship high-dosage tutoring program has grown in four years from 108 learning groups to 3,200 groups impacting more than 4,800 students this year in 130 schools in 38 communities. Fellows are accelerating student learning, with a clear focus on improving student outcomes in elementary reading and middle school math, while building relationships and fostering belonging and connection among students. Ninety-five percent of school partners report that Ignite fellows have a positive impact on students' academic growth, and an analysis of data from Ignite partner schools shows that, on average, fourth grade reading students saw more than four times their expected growth and sixth grade math students saw over two to three times their expected growth. Ignite also sparks a passion for teaching, with almost 7% of the 2024 corps composed of former fellows.
• These educators join TFA's 65,000 alumni, a group of exceptional and diverse leaders including state and national teachers of the year, principals, district leaders, state superintendents, elected officials, policymakers, nonprofit leaders, and entrepreneurs who are working alongside many others to transform education practices, policies, and culture to ensure all children have choice-filled lives.
• Teach For America remains focused on pursuing its ambitious 2030 goal of ensuring twice as many children in communities where it works are reaching key educational milestones indicating they are on a path to economic mobility and co-creating a life filled with possibility.

A press kit with Aneesh Sohoni's biography, high-resolution images, and relevant media assets is available here.

About Teach For America
Teach For America works in partnership with communities across the country to expand educational opportunities for children. Founded in 1990, Teach For America finds, develops, and supports a diverse network of leaders who expand opportunity for children from classrooms, schools, and every sector and field that shapes the broader systems in which schools operate. Today, Teach For America is a force of 70,000 alumni, corps members, and Ignite fellows working in pursuit of profound systemic change so that one day every child has an equal opportunity to learn, lead, thrive, and co-create a future filled with possibility. Teach For America is a proud member of the AmeriCorps national service network. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org and follow us on Facebook and X.

SOURCE Teach For America