The Alliance for Early Success has announced that Mario Cardona has joined its Board of Directors. Cardona is a partner at Nelson Mullins, where he helps lead the work of EducationCounsel, LLC, a mission-based education consulting firm that combines experience in policy, strategy, law, and advocacy to drive significant improvements in the U.S. education system to help all children thrive. Prior, Cardona served as the former Senior Advisor for Early Childhood Development & Education for the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he played a pivotal role in shaping and executing President Biden’s early childhood agenda. He held a similar role during the Obama administration focused on improving K-12 education. Cardona also previously served as the Director of Policy for the Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University, where he maintains an affiliation as a Professor of Practice.
Cardona is an accomplished executive leader with nearly 20 years of high-level experience in law and policy. He has been a political appointee to two Presidents, a scholar at one of the largest research universities in the country, a senior staff member in the United States Senate, a litigator at a national law firm, and the chief policy officer for one of the country’s largest nonprofits focused on early care and education.
Prior to his work in the White House, Cardona was a senior aide to the Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee. In this role, he was the principal author of the Child Care Development Block Grant Act of 2014, which comprehensively updated quality and safety standards in federally subsidized child care for the first time in nearly two decades. Cardona has also served as Chief of Policy, Practice, and Research for Child Care Aware of America, the nation’s leading voice for child care.
“Nobody knows better than Mario the role that policy can play in the success of young children and their families,” said Michael Laracy, the Alliance’s Board Chair. “Not only has he seen it—he has crafted it and advocated for it at the highest levels and with extraordinary success. I am so looking forward to the expertise and perspective he will bring to our work.”
