Cory is an experienced education nonprofit leader, an attorney, and a public policy advocacy specialist who has spent more than 12 years advancing the interests of public school students and their families as well as the educators who serve them. He has a proven record of working closely with policymakers to develop student-focused education policies as well as engaging and giving voice to the people whose lives are affected by those policies.

Cory specializes in analyzing and assessing issues, crafting innovative policy improvements, and implementing change at both the state and local levels. His approach centers on effective collaboration built through trust and recognition that lasting success comes through partnership.

Prior to moving to North Carolina, Cory was Chief Operating Officer at Forward Arkansas, an organization created through partnership between the State of Arkansas and the philanthropic community in order to equitably transform the state’s education system and to better prepare students for post-secondary success. Cory helped build the organization from the ground up, led development of organizational strategy, and worked in diverse communities throughout the state to ensure that the policies for which the organization advocated reflected communities’ aspirations for their young people.

Previously, Cory served as Attorney Specialist and Coordinator of Special Projects for the Arkansas Department of Education, as Director of Public Affairs for the Arkansas Education Association, and as executive director of a nonprofit organization focused on after-school and summer programming for youth. He has been recognized as a leader in his field throughout his career and has given back to his community through service on more than a dozen boards and commissions.

Cory is currently a member of the Governing Board for one of 10 Regional Education Laboratories administered by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences and has served as a volunteer Scholarship Committee member for the Triangle Community Foundation.

He is a graduate of the University of Arkansas and holds a law degree from the Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as well as a Master’s in Public Service from the University of Arkansas’s William J. Clinton School of Public Service. Cory and his wife, Carrie, reside in Durham, North Carolina with their young son.