Geoff Coltrane comes to the NC Department of Public Instruction from the NC Governor’s office, where he served as deputy public policy director and senior education advisor under Governor Cooper. In this role, according to the press release, he advised the governor and senior staff on K-12 and postsecondary education policy issues and served as the governor’s primary liaison to the State Board of Education, NC Community College System, UNC System, and other K-12 and postsecondary stakeholders. In addition to roles with the NC School of Science and Mathematics and the Hunt Institute, Coltrane spent five years in the classroom as a kindergarten and first grade teacher at Forest View Elementary School in Durham Public Schools. Coltrane earned a master’s degree in public policy from Duke University and bachelor’s degrees in elementary education and history from UNC-Chapel Hill.