Dana Brinson

As President of SparkNC, Dana leads the strategic visioning for the organization and works closely with the Board of Directors to ensure effective governance and alignment to our strategic direction. She leads the organization’s initiatives in accountability, fundraising and financial oversight.

 

Dana has been with SparkNC since its launch in 2022 and brings to her role 25 years of experience in service of public education as a special educator, consultant, international grant maker, facilitator and nonprofit board leader. She is driven by a vision of learning that is experiential, inclusive, caring and learner-centered. 

 

Prior to joining SparkNC, Dana founded Consulting Betwixt and served as a transition coach, consultant and guide for nonprofit leaders and others moving through significant periods of change. Before Betwixt, Dana was a program officer at Oak Foundation’s Learning Differences Program where she managed a $20+ million grant portfolio that funded emerging tech, neuroscience research, professional development, and youth leadership efforts to support the success of students with learning differences such as dyslexia. She was a founding board member of two education nonprofits  serving vulnerable student populations and began her education career as a special educator in a public therapeutic day school in Boston.

 

Dana holds a master’s degree in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, bachelor’s degrees, with highest honors, in psychology and history from West Virginia University, and a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University.