Leslye Arsht

Leslye Arsht's career in communications and education policy has spanned over thirty years. She co-founded and served eleven years as StandardsWork's President, during which time, StandardsWork established itself as a versatile organization that created breakthrough solutions and advanced best practices in standards-driven reform policy and implementation.

In July 2003, Leslye was recruited to be Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Education in Iraq. She was instrumental in reestablishing the k-12 Education Ministry and developing Master Teacher Training that re-introduced exemplary instructional practices being implemented by high performing nations. That work led to a deeper relationship with the Department of Defense and from 2006-2008, Leslye served as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy, having responsibility for policy, advocacy and oversight of quality of life programs for service members and their families. Since retiring from DoD, Leslye has advised a variety of clients who want to support military families and the Department of Defense mission and is particularly focused on cybersecurity training. She also developed a digital learning game, The Mars Game, which through research studies established that students could learn domain knowledge (in this case, math and programming) while engaged in a fun-to-play game.

Leslye was a counselor to U.S. former Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) during his term as U.S. Secretary of Education. Before working at the U.S. Department of Education, she was an associate vice chancellor at Vanderbilt University. She also served as a deputy press secretary and deputy assistant to President Ronald Reagan from 1986 to 1988. Leslye is a member of the Board of Trustees of Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire who awarded her an Honorary Degree and is a Special Advisor to both Tutor.com and Socratic Arts, Inc. Among other awards, she received Good Housekeeping Magazine's Women in Government, Grand Prize Award, 2005, the Dept of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, 2008; and the Army's Order of the White Plume for support of the Troops, 2008. 

A graduate of The University of Houston, Leslye has been Chairman of StandardsWork's Board since 2003.