Ilana Walden

Ilana has two decades of experience in the nonprofit, public, and education sector. Most recently, she served as a Project Director for special initiatives at Chicago Public Schools, the nation's 4th largest school district. In this role she directed large scale, cross departmental efforts to increase the district's graduation rates and student engagement. While at the district she worked closely with the University Chicago Education Lab to leverage data to drive policy decisions.

In addition to her leadership in educational policy, Ilana is also a nationally recognized restorative justice practitioner, having developed a school based restorative justice model that decreased out-of-school suspensions by 35%. She has facilitated thousands of school based restorative practice interventions and supported districts across the country in establishing restorative justice programs.