Fatimah Burnam-Watkins is the Founder & CEO of the Forging Better Work Network, which helps executives and organizations build their leadership & organizational capacity to accelerate growth and expand overall impact. She has designed and delivered training experiences for various groups and individuals, including independent charter school networks, education non-profit organizations, and private consulting groups. She is obsessed with developing strong leaders and teams to advance work and reach ambitious outcomes. Most recently, she served as the an SVP Advisor in the Office of the CEO & SVP of the Office of Transformation and Change at Teach For America where she was responsible for coaching executives and teams on how to lead in and through change. Fatimah began her career as a 2001 Teach For America corps member in Baltimore. After teaching, Fatimah joined Teach For America staff to begin her work in coaching and development, first as Program Director in New York City and then as director of TFA’s Philadelphia training institute before leading the New Jersey region as ED for nearly 7 years. In 2018, Fatimah was sworn in as a governor-appointed New Jersey State Board of Education member where she served as chair of the Equity & Strategic Planning committees.
Fatimah exercises her passion for service as a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated member and by mentoring young women of color through the Growing in Grief program, which started in honor of her mother, Isadell Riley. She serves as a Trustee of Imagine, The Center for Grief and Loss and advisor/mentor with the Someone’s Daughter/Someone’s Son youth development program. Fatimah received a B.S. in Political Science & Afro-American Studies from the University of Maryland – College Park and a Secondary Teaching Certification from Johns Hopkins University. In her most important role, Fatimah is a wife to her husband, Jon, and a mother to triplets Bryce, Cole, and Corynne.