BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New Voice Strategies announced today that Paul Toner, former president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, has joined the organization as president. Toner brings proven experience and a national reputation as a visionary educator and bridge builder among the many critical stakeholders in our public schools.
"Paul is the perfect leader for New Voice Strategies," said founding CEO Elizabeth Evans. "He is both a transformational leader and a unifier in a space -- education policy -- marked by intense polarization. The goal of New Voice Strategies is to transcend differences and change the way change is made. Our innovative crowd sourcing gives public leaders a new channel to understand stakeholder needs and reach large groups of problem-solvers with first-hand experience in informing their policy leadership. Paul has a proven track record in building unconventional, outcomes-driven partnerships while also bringing the organizational leadership and relationships to take New Voice Strategies to the next level."
New Voice Strategies, a nonprofit, provides an affordable, low-risk, high-reward method of direct stakeholder engagement. The VIVA Idea Exchange™, a breakthrough in crowd sourcing that offers educators, parents and community members a forum for meaningful dialogue focused on problem-solving about educational policy issues to find the authentic support for practical, progressive solutions for advancing student achievement.
Toner recently concluded his second two-year term as president of the 113,000-member Massachusetts Teachers Association, where he led the organization through a period of growth and in its efforts to shape policy as the state developed its Race to the Top application, educator evaluation, new PARCC assessments and rolled out its Common Core standards. Toner was instrumental in creating the Massachusetts Education Partnership, an innovative labor-management-community relations organization focused on improving student achievement.
Toner also served as Vice President of MTA from 2006-10, president of the Cambridge Teachers Association from 2001 to 2006 and president of the National Council of State Education Associations from 2013-14, and currently serves as a commissioner on Education Commission of the States, board member of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education and a director of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. He spent ten years as a middle school teacher in the Cambridge, Massachusetts public schools.
“In my four plus decades of work in education, I have found Paul Toner to be one of the most exceptional, effective leaders with whom I have had the pleasure to work,” said Paul Reville, former Secretary of Education in Massachusetts. “Paul has a unique ability to cut through difficult issues and bring people together to solve problems. He focuses like a laser on what is in the best interests of children, pushing aside ideology, ignoring distractions, challenging colleagues of all kinds by always acting on his conviction that when children succeed everyone wins.”
New Voice Strategies, which was founded in 2011, has worked in school district and states across the country, including Chicago, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Colorado, New Jersey, Arizona, and Massachusetts, and has an on-going partnership with the National Education Association. The organization benefits both public school administrators, by helping them effectively engage teachers and other stakeholders and build advocates for policy change, and labor by giving educators a voice in critical debates and empowering them to provide practical, informed solutions.
“The VIVA Idea Exchange is revolutionizing how teachers and administrators interact in ways that improve labor-management relations and public education policy at the same time,” said Kerrie Dallman, President of the Colorado Education Association.
About New Voice Strategies
New Voice Strategies plumbs the collective wisdom of committed people with frontline experience in fields that are crucial to our country’s future, turning their expertise into recommendations for building a better, fairer and more productive America.
Our VIVA Idea Exchange™ is a breakthrough innovation that builds new bridges between visionary leaders and all of their front line stakeholders to establish internal ambassadors and committed external partners. By drawing in leaders with experience focused on pragmatic solutions, we are changing the way change is made.
