Fall 2026 Fellow
Amy McIntosh has held leadership roles at practically every level of the U.S. education system, public and private, and her commitment to education equity and opportunity has been a throughline of her career.
The commitment to education began in 1996 when she became the first Chair of the New York City Board of Teach for America, amidst her post-MBA career as a private sector marketing executive and general manager. It became her full-time professional focus in 2004 as she shifted to help shape education policy and build a talented team of education crusaders for New York City’s Chancellor Joel Klein.
This work continued at the New York State level beginning in 2010 when New York won the Obama administration’s Race to the Top education challenge and McIntosh led the educator effectiveness strands of work for the New York State Commissioner of Education.
In 2014 McIntosh moved to the Obama administration’s Federal Department of Education where she was nominated by the President to become the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development. Reporting to the Secretary of Education, she led the K-12 and higher education policy-making process, helped ensure legislative reauthorization and implementation of the country’s K-12 governing law, and oversaw the $78B Federal education budget.
Returning to New York City in 2017, McIntosh became Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Strategy at the City University of New York. Most recently she combined her marketing and education experience as the Chief Marketing Officer of NYU’s School of Professional Studies. She also served on the Board of PowerSchool, a leading K-12 technology company from 2017 until 2024, and the Board of EAB, a major provider of software and services to higher education and corporations, from 2019 to today .
McIntosh holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. She worked in marketing and general management roles in the private sector from 1984 to 2004 at companies including American Express, Verizon, Zagat Survey, and D&B. Now she lives in New York City with her husband Jeffrey Toobin and Breezy the Labradoodle. She has two grown children and two growing grandchildren.
Study Group: “Changing Student Lives Through Educational Policy”
Increasing educational opportunity remains a promising pathway to improving the lives of millions of young people in the United States. Learn how CPF Fellow Amy McIntosh and guest colleagues mastered the policy levers and political forces at district, state and federal levels of government to drive change in K-12 and higher education. Explore the state of public education today, including the systems that work well or other that do not, as well as where does the money come from and go to. Participants will collaborate on their own policy proposals for the future of California and beyond.
Study Group Time: Tuesdays, 2PM to 4PM
Study Group Dates:
September 15
September 22
September 29
October 6
October 13
October 20
October 27
November 3
November 10