Laura Ginns serves as Vice President for Public Affairs and Strategic Initiatives at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Previously, Ginns served as chief of staff to the Secretary and as deputy chief of staff in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education. In those roles, she served as a senior advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr. on a variety of priority preschool-12, higher education, equity, and operational issues. Prior to those roles, Ginns served in other capacities at the Department, including as chief of staff in the Office of the Deputy Secretary and as associate general counsel in the Office of the General Counsel, where she was a principal advisor to the general counsel on federal education laws and policies. Prior to joining the Department in 2011, Ginns was a litigation associate at an international law firm in New York and a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Kiyo A. Matsumoto in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Ginns began her career teaching fourth grade in the South Bronx as a Teach for America corps member. She received a law degree cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, a master's in teaching from the School of Education at Pace University, and a bachelor's degree cum laude from Georgetown University.