Talia Milgrom-Elcott is the founder and executive director of Beyond100K, a nonprofit focused on preparing and retaining 150,000 excellent STEM teachers for American classrooms by 2032, with equity and belonging as a central and driving force. A 2026 Schwab Foundation for Social Innovation award winner, she leads a network of more than 250 leading organizations that have committed to working together toward the Beyond100K goal of ending the STEM teacher shortage in the US. She is also the founder and executive director of the Starfish Institute, a nonprofit consulting firm that partners with field leaders to tackle their most intractable problems by building and activating the networks they need to succeed. Her innovative work has been featured in Forbes, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Harvard Business Review, and other publications. Prior to this, she worked at Carnegie Corporation of New York and the NYC Department of Education. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and Harvard Law School.
She is on the Boards of several organizations, including Western Governors University, TeachPlus, and the Human Potential LAB, and has served on the advisory boards of several NSF-funded grants and the Brookings and Hoover Institutes. She is an Aspen Pahara Fellow, a AAAS STEMM Opportunity Alliance Advisory Council member, and a member of Wasan and the Li.st. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their three fierce, thoughtful, and often hilarious teenaged daughters.