Dr. Jen DeNeal joined the Foundation in 2025 as the director of Policy & Systems. In her role, she supports the Foundation in maximizing opportunities to shift education policy at the city, county, region, and state levels to accelerate the transformation of Detroit’s education system. 

Before joining the Foundation, Jen was the director of policy and research for EdTrust-Midwest, where she led the organization in developing policy research and recommendations with strong potential to raise student achievement and close opportunity gaps.

Believing strongly that zip codes should not determine educational outcomes, Jen began her career as a K-12 music teacher in rural eastern Arkansas. Previously, Jen has held positions at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the North Carolina State Board of Education, where she focused on North Carolina teacher quality. She was instrumental in the launch of the North Carolina Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission to craft and revise educator and principal preparation policies. Jen also served as the associate director for ethics and policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she led an equity audit evaluating university policies measuring the equity and accessibility of hundreds of documents in support of the university’s efforts to build a culture of integrity and transparency through healthy policy processes.

Jen has a bachelor of arts in political science from Loyola University Chicago, a master of public policy from Duke University, and a Ph.D. in educational evaluation and policy analysis from North Carolina State University.

Areas of expertise:
Education policy knowledge and analysis, research methods, storytelling

How I reenergize:
Gardening, yoga, and traveling to new places

A quote that describes my outlook:
“To remain indifferent to the challenges we face is indefensible. If the goal is noble, whether or not it is realized within our lifetime is largely irrelevant. What we must do therefore is to strive and persevere and never give up.” – Dalai Lama XIV