Mayor Joe Hogsett

Joseph “Joe” Hogsett is the 49th mayor of Indianapolis. Before taking office in 2016, Mayor Hogsett served as Indiana’s Secretary of State and United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.

Mayor Hogsett’s focus is on preventing crime, protecting taxpayers, and creating opportunities for working families. He is also dedicated to investing Indianapolis’ resources back into our neighborhoods.

A lifelong Hoosier, Mayor Hogsett has lived and worked in Indianapolis for more than 30 years. He earned his undergraduate degree and law degree from Indiana University. He received graduate degrees from Butler University and the Christian Theological Seminary. He and his wife Steph have three children.

You can follow Mayor Hogsett on Twitter @IndyMayorJoe, as well as Facebook, Instagram, and the City of Indianapolis Flickr.

Prior to joining Mayor Hogsett’s team, Patrick McAlister served as Director of Policy for the Indiana Department of Education. His primary responsibility was managing the development of Indiana’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan. Previously, Patrick worked at Teach Plus-Indiana, where he supported teachers advocating for expanding teacher leadership roles and increasing educator pay. Patrick started his career as a teacher. He taught grades 5-12 in both traditional public and public charter schools. Patrick holds a Bachelor’s degree from Wabash College.

Kazmyn Ramos earned her B.A. in Psychology and her B.A. in Spanish from Butler University in Indianapolis. Afterward, she attended graduate school at Loyola University Chicago. While there, she obtained her M.A. in Spanish Literature. After graduate school Kazmyn worked for Eskenazi Health in different roles. She participated in community partner meetings for the Near West Side and joined a team tasked with improving the organization as a whole. From her time at Eskenazi Health, Kazmyn learned firsthand about barriers that exist for families in Indianapolis. This knowledge has completely informed her role as a Guardian ad Litem for Child Advocates. In addition to her role as a GAL, Kazmyn serves on the board for Brooke’s Place, a nonprofit in Indianapolis that offers grief support for children and families.

Eric Sutton III earned his B.A. s a double-major in International Politics and Sociology from the writing stronghold, Kenyon College, in rural Gambier, Ohio. While there, he won the college’s highest award, the Anderson Cup. Having traveled and worked in places as far as Kathmandu, Nepal, Eric is currently enjoying the recluse of being based in Indianapolis as a Teach for America corps member. While in the classroom, Eric is earning his M.A. in Education and has served as a keynote speaker for the Consortium on High Achievement and Success’ Black and Latino Male Conference. Prior to joining the corps, he served as an organizer and policy analyst for The Black Institute in NYC, where he led environmental and economic justice campaigns for residents in the five boroughs. Sutton’s work was presented in front of NYC Council. Today, he teaches excited seventh graders, English Language Arts.

Andrew S. VanderMeer completed his B.A. in Philosophy and Economics in 2018 at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL, and came to Indianapolis that year to join Teach for America. He is now a Special Education Teacher and Track and Field Coach at Emmerich Manual High School, and a Master of Arts in Teaching candidate at Marian University, Indianapolis. He comes to Indianapolis from the Chicago area, where he worked with market research company Mintel Group, Ltd. as a six-month legal intern. His love of policy was grown in collegiate policy debate at Wheaton, and his interests lie in the breakdown between government and practice. He anticipates joining the Urban Leaders Fellowship for the summer of 2019, where he will work with the Office of Education Innovation in Indianapolis, and looks forward to being married this June.

Victoria Lay earned her B.A. in Sociology from Spelman College in May of 2018. She is currently a ParaLegal at a law firm handling Criminal Defense and Personal Injury claims outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to entering the discipline of law, Victoria served as a fellow for the Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute at Clark Atlanta University. As a fellow Victoria served as a peer mediator to groups of 5th grade students at Bethune Elementary school in which she was tasked to explore, support, and inspire thoughtful dialogue in the areas of social justice and nonviolence. Upon completion of her time at the Institute, she went on to intern at the Southern Education Foundation where she helped raise awareness of a high-stake educational proposition in Georgia. Victoria also has a variety of research experience in which she explored school choice within the South African context, investigated the campus climate at the University of California Davis, and examined the implications that gentrification has on Black owned businesses in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. Victoria ultimately desires to dedicate herself to exploring various social issues and advocating on the behalf of individuals of whom those issues impact.

Arturo Gutierrez earned his B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and his M.S. in Education from Johns Hopkins University. Arturo is currently a Second Grade Teacher at Truesdell Education Campus in Washington, DC, where he teaches English and Language Arts. Arturo is also a member of the Urban Teachers Fellowship, where he receives and implements feedback to his teaching practice.