The U.S. Department of Education today announced additional appointees who will work to carry out President Trump and Secretary McMahon’s vision for making American education the best in the world.

Lindsey Burke spent the last 17 years at the Heritage Foundation, where she was most recently Director of the Center for Education Policy and the Mark A. Kolokotrones Fellow in Education. In that capacity, she oversaw Heritage’s preschool, K-12, and higher education policy and research. Lindsey’s scholarly research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Social Science Quarterly and Educational Research and Evaluation, and she has published hundreds of policy reports on a range of education issues and testified before Congress on numerous occasions. In 2021, Lindsey was tapped to join Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin’s transition steering committee and was appointed to serve on the Youngkin landing team for education. She was also appointed by Governor Youngkin to serve on the Board of Visitors for George Mason University.

Lindsey has served as a fellow at EdChoice, the namesake foundation of Milton and Rose Friedman, on the national advisory board of Learn4Life, a network of public charter schools serving opportunity youth, on the board of the Educational Freedom Institute, on the advisory board of the Independent Women’s Forum’s Education Freedom Center, and on the advisory board of the University of Austin’s Center for Education and Public Service. She holds a bachelor's degree in Politics from Hollins University in Roanoke, VA, a master of teaching degree in Foreign Language Education from the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D in Education Policy from George Mason University.

Jeff Andrade comes to the Trump Administration with nearly 40 years of experience in federal education and workforce development policy in both the public and private sectors. Jeff began his professional career at the Department of Education as a career civil servant and quickly worked his way up from entry-level policy analyst to senior budget analyst responsible for student financial assistance. Later, on Capitol Hill, Jeff was a senior Republican staffer on the House Education and Workforce Committee, helping to successfully draft and negotiate reauthorizations of the Higher Education Act, Workforce Investment Act, and other important legislation for people with disabilities. He also drafted the landmark legislation that created the Federal government’s first performance-based organization, the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid office.

A first-generation American originally from New Bedford, Massachusetts, Jeff was the first in his family to graduate from college. He financed his education through earnings from factory and other jobs and with help from Pell Grants, other federal student aid, and institutional scholarships. He holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in Political Science from The American University in Washington, D.C., and resides with family outside of Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Chris McCaghren most recently served as the CEO of Higher Education Solutions, a full-service higher education consulting firm with a national presence, serving colleges and universities of all types. During the first Trump Administration, Dr. McCaghren served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Higher Education Programs where he oversaw the distribution of more than $36 billion in pandemic relief funding to more than 5,100 institutions of higher education and their students. 

Before being called to Washington, DC, he served as the Executive Vice President and Provost, as well as Professor of Higher Education Leadership and Policy, at the University of Mobile. Dr. McCaghren also served as Dean of the College of Education at Anderson University and as Assistant to the President for External Programs and Division Head for the Division of Career and Continuing Studies at Samford University. In addition, he served Congressman Spencer Bachus (AL-6, retired) and the great people of the state of Alabama as Special Assistant to the Congressman.

Dr. McCaghren holds a doctorate from Vanderbilt University in higher education leadership and policy, a master of theological studies from Beeson Divinity School, and a double major undergraduate degree in communication studies and classics from Samford University.

Nick Moore most recently served as the director of the Governor’s Office of Education and Workforce Transformation (GOEWT) under the leadership of Alabama Governor Kay Ivey. Moore focused on aligning Alabama’s education and workforce programs, implementing Alabama’s state longitudinal database system, establishing Alabama’s non-degree credential quality and transparency system, and curating a competency-based education and skills-based hiring system in Alabama. Under Nick’s leadership, the GOEWT worked to establish a learning and employment record, a skills-based job description generator, and a human-centered public workforce system designed to assist Alabamians with overcoming benefits cliffs and other barriers to entering the workforce. He served as a Teach for America corps member in Lowndes County, Alabama where he had the privilege of teaching secondary social studies, government, and economics at Central High School. After completing his tenure in Lowndes County, Nick received a Teach for America Capitol Hill Fellowship. During and after his fellowship, he covered education, health care, and workforce development in the Office of Representative Martha Roby (AL-02). Nick later served as Senator Luther Strange’s Legislative Assistant for healthcare, education, and labor.

Nick holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and a Master of Public Policy from Cornell University. Moore is a native of Enterprise, Alabama.

Jason Delisle is an expert in higher education finance and policy. He has held senior positions at several prestigious think tanks in Washington, D.C., including the American Enterprise Institute and the Urban Institute. Delisle’s work has focused on the federal student loan program, college enrollment and pricing, the for-profit higher education sector, and international higher education systems. He has testified before Congress and as an expert witness in federal court.

Delisle started his career on Capitol Hill, first in the office of former US Representative Thomas Petri (R-WI) and then as an analyst for the US Senate Committee on the Budget. Delisle holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Lawrence University and a Master of Public Policy from the George Washington University.

Casey K. Sacks, Ph.D. is the President of BridgeValley Community and Technical College and founder of the WIN Academy Early College Charter High School in Charleston, WV. Sacks previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges at the U.S. Department of Education where she led work related to workforce development, career and technical education, adult education, and prison education. Sacks also served on the Board of Homebuilders International (HBI), the SkillPointe Foundation Board, Thomas Memorial Hospital Foundation Board, as a Commissioner with the Postsecondary Commission, on the WV CARES for Autism Board, and as a gubernatorial appointee to the WV State Workforce Board. She was an Aspen Institute Presidential Fellow in the inaugural class and earned a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Bowling Green State University.

Meir Katz previously served as a Senior Counsel in the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). He was tasked with tackling some of the most difficult questions of civil rights law and policy facing OCR. More recently, Meir served as an Administrative Appeals Judge on the Medicare Appeals Counsel, in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), issuing decisions on behalf of the Secretary of HHS and providing the final administrative review in many hundreds of Medicare claims appeals. Before entering federal service, Meir was Legal Counsel and the principal appellate and dispositive motions litigator for a private litigation firm, devoting over half his docket to the representation of victims of terrorism seeking redress from its sponsors, benefactors, and enablers, including sovereign foreign governments and global banking conglomerates. Meir delivered oral argument in numerous federal appeals and was the principal author of well over 100 appellate briefs. Meir is also a published author of five law review articles and a former teacher, having taught courses on the First Amendment and on the separation of powers enshrined in the federal Constitution. Meir received his J.D. magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center.