Saroja Warner, NBCT, Ph.D., is a nationally recognized expert in educator workforce initiatives and culturally responsive teaching, leading and school cultures. She currently serves as the Director for Talent Development and Diversity at WestEd. In this role she provides strategic leadership for WestEd’s technical assistance, research and policy work with state education agencies, district leaders and school-based educators focused on developing and retaining an effective, culturally responsive, and racially and linguistically diverse educator workforce and increasing educators’ and leaders’ use of policies and practices that promote successful and equitable learning outcomes for each student. Dr. Warner has also served as co-director of two Comprehensive Centers, federally funded education services centers, run by WestEd serving states in the mid-Atlantic and northeast regions of the U.S. Prior to joining the WestEd team she was the Director of Teacher Workforce Initiatives at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). There she led several national initiatives including the Network for Transforming Educator Preparation (NTEP) and the Diverse and Learner-Ready Teachers Initiative (DLRT). Prior to that she served as the Chief for Educator Preparation Program Approval at the Maryland State Department of Education and as Senior Director for Performance, Measurement and Research at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). Dr. Warner started her career as a high school social studies teacher, earning national board certification in 2004 and renewing that certification in 2014. She also serves as faculty in the graduate teacher preparation program at the University of Maryland, College Park since 2008, teaching in the very program that prepared her to be a teacher and where she earned her doctorate, to support the development of tomorrow’s culturally responsive teachers.