Niu Gao is a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, specializing in K–12 education. Her areas of interest include math and science education, digital learning in K–12 schools, and student transition from high school to college. Prior to joining PPIC, she worked as a quantitative policy analyst at Stanford. She holds a PhD in educational policy and an MS in economics from Florida State University.

Joseph Hayes is a senior research associate at the Public Policy Institute of California, where he studies population change, educational policy, and criminal justice issues. Recent projects have focused on estimates of the undocumented immigration population, English Learner reclassification policies in California public schools, and the changing composition of the state’s prison and parole populations. He holds an MS in agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Maggie Reardon is a senior reporter for CNET News, where, since 2004 she has covered tech policy, broadband, the digital divide, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the debate over how to regulate Big Tech. When she’s not reporting on and writing about tech issues, she helps lead a Philadelphia-area parent initiative that advocates for equitable and inclusive education for students with disabilities. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and creative writing from George Washington University and a graduate degree in journalism from Columbia University School of Journalism.

Amy Tong is Secretary of Government Operations for the State of California. Her previous role was as the State’s chief information officer and director of the California Department of Technology. She started her career in service with the State of California as an entry-level programmer at the State Water Resources Control Board. From there, she rose to positions of greater responsibility in six state agencies, ultimately being appointed to administration leadership roles. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led critical technology projects to provide information and data, including systems for monitoring hospital capacity, public health reporting, remote learning, telework, vaccination, and wildfire response. During the emergency she guided efforts to build more than 40 new technology tools and make critical repairs to legacy systems. In her current role, she is focused on transforming state government through innovation. A champion of user-centered design, she has led efforts to modernize the state’s project delivery, technology procurement, cloud smart adoption, open data, workforce development pipeline, and cybersecurity measures. In addition to her leadership roles in state government, she volunteers as a member of the California Northstate University board of trustees, the NAACP, the Asian Pacific State Employee Association, and as national senior advisor for the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association. She holds a BS in management information systems and an MBA from California State University, Sacramento.

Luis Wong is the chief executive officer for the California K-12 High Speed Network (K12HSN), where he oversees and coordinates the participation of K–12 schools in the California Research and Education Network. In 2014, the State Legislature granted funds to K12HSN to connect approximately 400 unserved and underserved schools in rural California, and in 2015, the organization received the CCSESA Innovation in Technology Award. As CEO, he works very closely with county offices of education and school districts across the state to ensure the network can provide reliable capacity for teaching and learning. In Imperial County, he oversees the operation of a high-speed, self-provisioned fiber-optic network that connects over 120 community anchor institutions with dark fiber. This collaborative is now expanding network capabilities and piloting a self-provision private LTE network to serve the community at large. He has over 23 years of experience in IT infrastructure and high-speed networking, and earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering with a specialty in telecommunications from CETYS University in Mexico.