PHOENIX (Nov. 17, 2016) – The Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry announced that Whitney Chapa has joined the Chamber team as the organization’s new vice president of education policy and budget.
Chapa previously served as the executive director of the Arizona State Board of Charter Schools. In that position, she oversaw the state’s charter school authorizer and the nation’s largest independent state authorizer, responsible for over 530 charter schools.
Chapa’s past experience also includes serving as the state policy director of K-12 funding for the Foundation for Excellence in Education, where she was given the opportunity to work hands-on to design and promote education reform policies across the country, and she served for three years as the K-12 budget analyst in the Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting for former Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer.
Chapa expressed her excitement to get started at the Chamber.
“The Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry has made modernizing our K-12 school finance system and replicating educational excellence across the state a top priority,” Chapa said. “I cannot wait to be a part of this mission to improve educational outcomes, which will only boost Arizona’s economic competitiveness.”
Chamber President and CEO Glenn Hamer is thrilled to welcome this new member to the team.
“Whitney Chapa is a first-class talent in education policy. We’re lucky to have her,” Hamer said. “As 2017 approaches, our education agenda is only growing in importance. We are so fortunate that we have someone with Whitney’s insight and experience to help us reach our goal of improving Arizona’s K-12 system for all of the state’s kids.”
Born and raised in Arizona, Chapa received her bachelor’s degree in political science from Arizona State University and a master’s degree in public policy from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development.
