Michael Dannenberg

Michael Dannenberg is a Principal with Creative Policy Partners LLC and long-time senior advisor to various public officials, including former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter, Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI), multiple past Democratic Party nominees for President, and gubernatorial candidates.

While in the Executive Branch, Dannenberg led work on various student aid, college completion, and teacher education reform initiatives. While with Senators Kennedy and Pell, he played a lead role in developing and drafting two Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization laws, the Education Finance Incentive Grant Program, Taxpayer-Teacher Protection Act, and numerous provisions contained in higher education and appropriations law. He was the lead staff author of the College Quality, Affordability, and Diversity Improvement Act, sponsored by Senator Kennedy. He spearheaded the Senate Democrats’ college admissions reform strategy work during U.S. Supreme Court consideration of the Gratz and Grueter affirmative action cases. National Journal named Dannenberg to "The Hill 100" list of Congress' most influential aides.

In between government stints, Dannenberg has run policy programs at other advocacy groups and think tanks, including at Education Reform Now where he was the Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Higher Education Policy and led robust work on college access, admission, affordability, and completion reform; at Education Trust where he was Director of Higher Education Policy where he spearheaded a “Doing Away With Debt” campaign, and at the New America Foundation where he founded and managed the PK-16 Education Policy Program and Federal Education Budget Project. Dannenberg and his work have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, and The American Prospect. He has testified before Congress as well as made broadcast appearances on PBS, WNYC, C-SPAN, CNBC, MSNBC, and the CBS news program, 60 Minutes. He is a first-generation college graduate, self-financed all postsecondary education, and holds degrees from Boston University, Stanford University, and Yale Law School.