Testimony of Ricarda Ganjam, PCSB Board Nominee
Testimony of Ricarda Ganjam
Nominee for DC Public Charter School Board
Committee on Education Roundtable
The Honorable David Grosso, Chairman
September 17, 2015
Good morning Chairman Grosso and members of the Committee on Education. My name is Ricarda Ganjam. It’s an honor to be nominated by Mayor Muriel Bowser to serve on the DC Public Charter School Board. Thank you for considering my nomination today.
As the daughter of immigrant parents and coming to this country in elementary school, education was always ingrained as something to value and cherish. I remember my dad telling me that no matter what, education was the one thing no one could ever take away from you. So, I attended public schools in Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Missouri and did my best to take advantage of the opportunities that came my way. I was a student athlete at the University of Missouri and eventually made my way to Texas A&M University for a PhD in Educational Human Resource Development.
I first came to Washington, DC in the early 1990’s as a communication intern for Senator Jack Danforth. At that time, I lived on Capitol Hill and could not convince a delivery driver to deliver pizza to my address. I loved the character of DC and knew I wanted to come back someday.
I went back to school and after completing my dissertation on the hot topic of the time, the Infusion of Technology into Higher Education, I married my college sweetheart who was a Captain in the US Army and we moved to Germany. In Germany, I had the opportunity to work with the University of Maryland University College, helping to advance their distance learning methodology and teaching courses in business and public administration. It was a wonderful opportunity to live and work in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain—it became the study abroad I never did in college. I was also the leader of the Family Readiness Group, supporting my husband in his company command. I will never forget the day a young soldier’s 16 year old wife arrived from Seattle, a fresh high school dropout eager to be with her husband before he deployed to Bosnia. After helping her get settled in, I took her right to the high school on post and encouraged her to enroll and finish her education. She did.
In 2002, we finally made our way back to DC and have enjoyed living here ever since. I have been with Accenture for 15 years in our Management Consulting Practice, focused on Talent and Human Performance and Change Management. In the past 5 years, I had a great opportunity to become more locally engaged in DC in leading our local market program. In this role, I started to engage in deep conversations about the Metro DC region, education, workforce development, technology, performance measurement and leadership and the many organizations that support efforts in our city. I became especially involved with the KIPP Public Charter Schools by piloting a college and career readiness program in D.C. that we spread to nine U.S. cities as it aligned to Accenture’s corporate citizenship goals to equip people with the skills to succeed—to get a job or build a business. Through involvement with KIPP, I became sold on the value of bringing more high performing schools to children as soon as possible.
Today, we live on Capitol Hill and our three children attend DCPS and DC Public Charter Schools. Our youngest son is at Brent Elementary and our older two attend middle school at BASIS D.C. Public Charter School. The kids play sports in various community rec centers and fields across the city.
I am eager to be a part of the Public Charter School Board that is viewed as a national leader and has had so much success in DC. I look forward to continuing to take the model to the next level with focus on communication, collaboration, and expanded opportunities for the children of DC.
Thank you, Chairman Grosso, and all the members of the Committee for the opportunity to testify today. I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.