Carmita Vaughan is founder and president of the Surge Institute. Surge was established to address issues of race and class in urban education through leadership development, technical assistance and advocacy. The Surge Fellowship, the Institute’s signature program, identifies and develops emerging education leaders of color. Carmita’s commitment to empowering our country’s most underserved young people by providing them with pathways to excellence through education led her to a decade of executive service, driving results for visionary leaders including Gen. Colin Powell and Arne Duncan, the former U.S. Secretary of Education.