About the Commissioner
Appointed by Governor Bill Haslam in April 2011, Kevin S. Huffman brings a strong educational leadership background to his role as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education. Huffman has spent nearly two decades working with public education systems as a teacher, lawyer, non-profit executive and non-profit board member.
Huffman began his education career as a first and second grade bilingual teacher in the Houston Independent School District, teaching students in English and Spanish. He was a member of his school's elected shared decision making committee, and trained new teachers as a faculty advisor and school director at Teach For America's summer training institutes.
As a lawyer at the Washington D.C. law firm of Hogan & Hartson, Huffman represented school districts, state departments of education and universities, working onpolicy and litigationmatters including challenges tostate finance systems, desegregation litigationand special education hearings and trials.
Huffman joined the senior management of Teach For America in 2000, serving as the general counsel, the senior vice president of growth strategy and development, and the executive vice president of public affairs during more than a decade with the organization.As head of growth strategy and development, he grew Teach For America's annual revenue from $11 million to over $110 million and managed the opening of 14 new regional sites. As the head of public affairs, he managed all federal policy and legislative work, including passing authorizing legislation through Congress, managing organizational engagementin the reauthorization of education and national service legislation, and overseeing federal grants including receipt of a $50 million Innovation Fund grant. Huffman also managed research and evaluation, communications, state and district policy, and relations with nonprofit and faith community leaders. Huffman served on the organization's leadership team throughout his tenure, as Teach For America grew into the largest provider of new teachers in the country.
In 2009, Huffman won the Washington Post's "America's Next Great Pundit" writing competition, besting nearly 5,000 competitors. He wrote opinion columns for the Post's editorial page, and haswritten columns, articles and blogsfor multiple publications.
Huffman graduated from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in English Literature in 1992, and from the New York University School of Law in 1998, where he was a member of the Law Review. Huffman has served on the advisory boards of KIPP-Denver, Explore Schools Inc., College Summit, and the National Science Resources Center.
Governor Bill Haslam
