Michael Dannenberg is the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education’s Deputy Commissioner for Policy. With the Commissioner, he leads the Department’s policy work on state student financial aid and student success matters. Dannenberg is a well-known, long-time senior education advisor having worked for a variety of public officials, including former Obama Administration U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter, the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), the late Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI), multiple past Democratic Party nominees for President, and a series of gubernatorial candidates.
While a senior aide at the U.S.Department of Education, Michael led work on various teacher education, college completion, and student aid initiatives. While with Senators Kennedy and Pell, he played a lead role in developing and drafting two Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization laws, the Education Finance Incentive Grant Program, Taxpayer-Teacher Protection Act, and numerous elements of federal higher education and appropriations law. National Journal named him to its "Hill 100" list of the most influential aides in Congress.
Between government stints, Dannenberg has run education budget and policy programs at advocacy groups and think tanks, including the Education Trust where he was Director of Higher Education Policy and the New America Foundation where he founded and managed the PK-16 Education Policy Program and Federal Education Budget Project. Michael and his work have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Politico Magazine, and The American Prospect. He has testified before Congress and multiple state legislatures as well as made broadcast appearances on PBS, WNYC, C-SPAN, CNBC, MSNBC, and the CBS news program, 60 Minutes. He is a first-generation college graduate, self-financed 100% of his postsecondary education with grants, scholarships, and student loans, and holds degrees from Boston University, Stanford University, and Yale Law School.