A former newspaper journalist, Nancy Walser has been writing about and working in education for more than two decades. She is the author of The Essential School Board Book: Better Governance in the Age of Accountability (Harvard Education Press, 2009),  a bestselling resource for countless school board members and superintendents across the country.  She was elected four times to the Cambridge School Committee and is a lifetime member of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. She is a frequent speaker at national and regional conferences and a consultant/coach to governance teams across the country. She holds a M.Ed in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.