Denise Forte (pronounced “fort”) is the president and CEO at EdTrust. Named one of the Washingtonian‘s 500 Most Influential People two years running, she is one of the country’s leading voices on education equity, Denise is a fierce advocate for employing evidence-based strategies to create high achieving learning environments that turn barriers and gaps into bridges and pipelines for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.

Denise joined Ed Trust in 2019 as senior vice president for Partnerships and Engagement, guiding the organization’s expansion by developing robust working relationships with legislators, education advocates, traditional and emerging civil rights groups, parents, students, and the business community. She was named president and CEO in January 2023.

A mom of two school-aged boys, Denise understands the importance of teacher diversity, resource equity, and parent engagement. “Everything I’ve done in the past has led me to Ed Trust,” she said.

Prior to EdTrust, Denise was a senior fellow and director of public affairs for The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank. She also has served as the Vice President for Policy Leadership at Leadership for Educational Equity, a nonprofit organization supporting current and former teachers in public leadership.

Her lifetime of public service includes 20 years in senior congressional staff roles on Capitol Hill, and a stint in the executive branch, serving in the Obama administration as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary in the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development in the Department of Education.

Denise holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Duke University, and an M.A. in Women’s Studies from the George Washington University. She lives with her family in Washington, D.C.

Arlen Benjamin-Gomez brings 20 years of experience as an education advocate and policymaker, deeply rooted in the fabric of New York. She serves as the executive director of EdTrust-New York, where she works alongside advocacy organizations and stakeholders to increase educational opportunity and equity for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds across New York State.

Prior to joining EdTrust-New York, she served as an education equity advisor and consultant, collaborating closely with states, districts, and non-profit organizations to propel forward racial, socio-economic, and cultural equity in education. Moreover, her expertise and leadership have been instrumental in advancing critical initiatives around district and school integration, culturally responsive and sustaining education, and legal rights to education as the senior director of legal strategy and Policy at the Center for Public Research and Leadership at Columbia University.

Before her time at Columbia University, Arlen dedicated her efforts as a fellow at the Regents Research Fund, focusing on policy, curriculum, assessment, and grant programs aimed at enhancing educational services and bilingual education for Multilingual Learners in New York.

Her roots in advocacy were further established during her tenure as a staff attorney at Advocates for Children in the Immigrant Students’ Rights Project, where she championed the educational opportunities for immigrant and Multilingual Learner students and families. Arlen began her career as a law fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Immigrant Justice Project, where she litigated employment and civil rights class actions on behalf of migrant farm workers in the South.

Arlen holds a J.D. from New York University Law School and a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles. Born in Cuba and raised in San Francisco, Arlen has made New York her home, where she is a proud mom of two New York City public school students in Washington Heights.