Peggy Brookins, NBCT, joined the National Board as Executive Vice President in December 2014, and was named President & CEO in November 2015. Her long career as an educator includes many national leadership positions and accolades. In July 2014, President Barack Obama named Brookins as a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. She joins the National Board from the Engineering and Manufacturing Institute of Technology at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida, which she co-founded in 1994 and where she served as director and as a mathematics instructor. She has been inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame in 2009, is a Florida Education Association “Everyday Hero,” and received the association’s Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2013, Brookins was named an Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida.