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Chelsea Crawford Named Executive Director of TennesseeCAN

It has been my honor to serve as Executive Director of TennesseeCAN for the past six years. We have made great strides for kids, but there is still much more work to do to ensure that all Tennessee students have access to a high-quality education.

As I transition out of my role as Executive Director of TennesseeCAN, I am thrilled to announce today Chelsea Crawford as the new Executive Director of TennesseeCAN.

Chelsea brings both a wealth of experience in education policy and a deep passion for advocacy. For the past four years, she served as chief of staff at the Tennessee Department of Education, where she led the commissioner’s office under two commissioners and through the COVID-19 pandemic.

During her leadership, Tennessee has passed and implemented a number of nation-leading reforms to better serve Tennessee’s students and families— including early literacy, learning loss intervention, tutoring, and funding reform policies that are positively changing the trajectory for students.

Before joining the department in 2020, Chelsea spent 10 years in the private sector, including serving as vice president for a public affairs firm that supported corporate, government, political, and non-profit clients.

With Chelsea at the helm, TennesseeCAN will continue TennesseeCAN’s vital work in helping ensure that all Tennessee students have access to a high-quality education.

A proud native Tennessean, she holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and serves on various boards for organizations that support education and communities across the state.

I am also pleased to share that I will continue to serve as an advisor to both TennesseeCAN and the national 50CAN network.

Education remains one of the most important issues in our state, and I want to thank you for the support and partnership over the years to move this work forward. Please join me in welcoming Chelsea into her new role leading TennesseeCAN.

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