Gordon MacInnes is an expert and tireless advocate on issues related to education, poverty and closing the achievement gap. He served from 2002 to April 2007 as assistant commissioner for Abbott Implementation for the New Jersey Department of Education where he worked with the state’s 31 poorest urban districts to focus the court ordered education initiative on academics, particularly early childhood literacy.  From 1998 to 2002, he served as president of Citizens for Better Schools, a New Jersey based nonprofit organization dedicated to improving school effectiveness and leadership. He was a member of the New Jersey State Senate from 1994 to 1998. Prior to that, he served in the New Jersey General Assembly, was chief executive of New Jersey Network and was director of the Fund for New Jersey.   He is an active lecturer and writer.

Mr. MacInnes has recently released a new book, In Plain Sight: Simple, Difficult Lessons from New Jersey’s Expensive Effort to Close the Achievement Gap.