LeAnna Marr currently serves as a GPE Board Member. As Acting Senior Coordinator of United States International Basic Education Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), she is responsible for the oversight and coordination of all resources and activities relating to the promotion of international basic education, including the implementation of the U.S. Government Strategy for International Basic Education across U.S. government agencies and departments.

In addition, Ms. Marr currently serves as the U.S. government representative on the board of directors of GPE and on the Executive Committee of Education Cannot Wait.

As a USAID Foreign Service Officer since 2004, using her expertise in education in crisis and conflict settings, she served in Guinea, South Sudan, Sudan (Khartoum), North Macedonia and in Morocco where she was the Program Officer and Acting Mission Director. In addition, Ms. Marr served as USAID’s Senior Education Advisor in the Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs, and as the Director of the Center for Education in the Bureau for Inclusive Growth, Partnerships and Innovation at USAID.

Prior to joining USAID, she worked as Associate Peace Corps Director in Guinea, an international basic education consultant and as executive director of a non-profit alternative education program in Washington, DC. She has a master’s in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a bachelor's in French from Kalamazoo College.