Education expert and entrepreneur Erika Donalds is the Founder and Chairman of OptimaEd and the Chair of America First Policy Institute’s Center for Education Opportunity. Erika is known as a national expert on education policy and school choice and is a frequent media commentator and speaker. A seasoned business executive, she has offered her expertise to help further the expansion of high-quality school choice options and to improve accountability and governance in America’s schools.

Erika is a former elected member of the Collier County School Board and served as a visiting fellow for The Heritage Foundation Center for Education Policy and Guest Faculty for the Leadership Institute’s School Board Programs. She previously sat on Florida’s 2017-2018 Constitution Revision Commission, Governor DeSantis’ Advisory Committee on Education and Workforce Development, and the Florida Gulf Coast University Board of Trustees. She is an advisor for Heritage Foundation Advisory Council on Education Reform, Classical Learning Test, Moms for Liberty, and the Independent Women’s Forum Education Freedom Center.

Erika and her husband Byron have lived in Naples since 2002 and have three sons – Damon, Darin, & Mason.