Emma Pengelly

Emma Pengelly is currently the Deputy Director of the Home Region Program at the Walton Family Foundation. Her role encompasses team operations as well as strategy development, and she manages a team of program staff focused on supporting the economic and cultural vibrancy of Northwest Arkansas through inclusive growth and increasing access too opportunity and economic mobility for residents of the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta through individual and family asset building as well as improving access to high quality educational opportunities.

Prior to joining the Home Region Program, Emma was a Senior Program Officer for the K-12 Education Program at the foundation where she focused on innovation in education and new teacher pipelines as well as leading a place-based portfolio of work focused on the state of Massachusetts and the city of Boston. She has served as an adjunct professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a teaching fellow at Bank Street College of education, teaching classes in general education leadership with a focus on teaching and leading in diverse classrooms and schools to both master’s degree students and doctoral candidates. Emma began her career in public schools as a teacher and a school leader in Brooklyn, NY.

Emma has a BA in Women’s Studies from Harvard College, a Master’s Degree in General Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education and a Doctorate in Education Leadership (EdLD) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.