My third-grade class on Long Island, New York.
Meet Cindy
I’ve spent more than three decades working to improve learning and teaching, but my connection to education goes back much further.
My career has taken me across education, technology, and nonprofit work, with a consistent focus on expanding access to ideas and resources that improve learning and teaching.
In February 2025, I was appointed to represent Trustee Area 3 on the Marin County Board of Education. Serving on the Board has given me an even deeper appreciation for Marin’s schools, educators, families, and students.
A career devoted to education
Throughout my career in education, educational media, and nonprofit leadership, I’ve focused on how ideas, information, and resources can be used to engage people, expand learning, and improve lives.
For the past 16 years, I have served as Executive Director of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, home of Edutopia. Our work shares evidence-based practices with millions of educators, including project-based learning and approaches that support critical thinking, collaboration, and students’ social and emotional development.
I hold a Master’s degree in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. My early work in educational technology began in New York with Learning Link, an online education service in the earliest days of connected learning, when classrooms accessed the Internet using 300-baud modems.
I later joined the national headquarters of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), eventually serving as Senior Vice President of Internet and Education. I led a team that launched PBS.org and built PBS’s early digital presence, including PBSKids.org and online resources for teachers.
Those early years gave me a perspective that has stayed with me throughout my career: the world around our students is always changing, and we need to keep asking how we can best prepare them for it.
Marin is home
My family moved to Marin nearly 20 years ago. My two children attended Marin public schools, beginning at Dixie Elementary, now Lucas Valley Elementary, continuing through Miller Creek, and graduating from the Marin School of Environmental Leadership at Terra Linda High School.
As a parent, I saw firsthand that children have different talents, interests, and ways of learning. Schools are at their best when they maintain high expectations while helping young people discover their own strengths and possibilities.
That belief has guided my community service here in Marin.
I served for six years on the board of Terra Linda High School’s Marin School of Environmental Leadership, supporting the early development of this innovative program and its emphasis on critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication.
I also served for seven years on the board of the San Rafael-based Buck Institute for Education, now PBLWorks, a national nonprofit that helps educators use project-based learning to engage students in meaningful, real-world learning. I participated in strategic planning and the successful search for new executive leadership.
I’ve been an active volunteer in my Lucas Valley community, from volunteering with Lucas Valley Swim Team and supporting Terra Linda High School water polo to co-founding Lucas Valley Masters Swim in 2011. I was honored to be named Lucas Valley Homeowner of the Year.
Lucas Valley Masters has since evolved into Marin Aquatic Masters at Indian Valley College, where I continue to swim and volunteer with the adult learn-to-swim program.
A note about my name: I’m known professionally as Cindy Johanson. Johanson is my maiden name and is now my legal middle name. My full legal name, Cynthia Johanson Irish, will appear on the ballot.