Sara Allan

Sara Allan, director of Early Learning and Pathways in the United States Program, oversees efforts to increase the quality of pre-K systems and programs and to ensure that students effectively transition between Pre-K and K-12 systems, the K-12 system and the Postsecondary levels, and between education after high school and the workforce.

She joined the foundation in 2011 as the deputy director of Strategy, Planning and Management for the K-12 team. Most recently, she led the development and implementation of program strategies targeted at improving the college and career readiness of U.S. students. Her work focused on catalyzing innovative models in education that aim to dramatically accelerate student learning, and on expanding access to high impact education-to-employment pathways that help students of color and those experiencing poverty to build skills and attain credentials that enable upward mobility in the workforce.

Previously, Sara spent six years as a district level leader at Portland Public Schools, where she led reform initiatives including restructuring the portfolio of schools, redesign of core human capital processes and systems, the development of school results frameworks, and directed resource allocation strategy, research, evaluation, data policy & analysis. Prior to working in education, Sara was a strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, where she worked with private and public sector clients on issues of strategy, organizational development and growth in North and South America.

Sara grew up in Canada and holds a B.Sc. in mathematics and economics from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Sara lives in Seattle with her husband and three children.