Eric McGhee is the Grants Program Manager in the Federal Programs Division at the Georgia Department of Education.  As Program Manager, Mr. McGhee coordinates the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program, the Neglected and Delinquent Children Program, the Foster Care Education Program and the Rural Education Achievement Program. Mr. McGhee provides guidance and technical assistance to state agencies, districts and institutions throughout the state. Prior to working at the Georgia Department of Education, Mr. McGhee was an Education Program Specialist in the Early Childhood and Reading Group, which is a division of Student Achievement and School Accountability Programs (SASA) in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) at the U.S. Department of Education (ED) in Washington D.C.

Faatimah Muhammad is a supervisory education program specialist for the Teachers, Leaders and Special Populations group in the Office of School Support and Accountability, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education. This group consist of Title I, Part D, McKinney Vento, Title II, Part A, Title III, Part A and the provisions for Foster Care in Title I, Part A. Prior to joining the Department, she worked as an Instructional Systems Specialist for the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity and as an Assistant Director for AVID Center, Colorado. She also held various positions in DeKalb County Schools System, Georgia.

Sarah Newman serves as the Team Lead for Data Management and Data Analytics in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. In this role, Sarah is responsible for overseeing OESE’s portfolio of over 200 data collections. Prior to OESE, she worked as a liaison and analyst for the EDFacts team within the National Center for Education Statistics. Sarah received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Iowa and her Master of Public Policy from the University of Maryland College Park. 

Suzanne M. Peck has dedicated her life to “Saving the world, one reader at a time” after working in the St. Anthony Juvenile Corrections facility and realizing that most of this population struggled to be able to read.  She has worked with at-risk populations and programs ever since in numerous capacities at the school, district, and now at the state level as the Idaho State Coordinator for Title IX-A Homeless Education and Title ID Neglected, Delinquent, & At-Risk programs.  She realizes how difficult it is to teach a child when they are hungry, tired, or experiencing trauma.  She received a Bachelor’s degree from Utah State University and has been an educator dedicated to serving the most vulnerable students for 20 years.  

Lisa Phillips has been the State Coordinator for the NC Homeless Education Program for 11 years. Emphasis in her work is on collecting and analyzing data for program development and the academic success of students, providing training and technical assistance to school districts about the McKinney-Vento Act, administering federal funding, and conducting formal monitoring of school districts and charter schools. She develops training materials for local and state programs while also serving on a multitude of boards at the local, state, and national level. She has extensive experience in the public-school system as a school social worker as well as in the position of an assistant principal.  She is a recipient of the National Association of Federal Education Program Administrators Leadership Award and holds several degrees with emphasis on School Social Work as well as in Liberal Studies and School Administration.