As director of communications, Jana Rausch has established more than 15 years of experience working with Lowell Milken's groundbreaking education initiatives. These include educator effectiveness initiatives spanning K-12 to higher education under NIET and the Milken Educator Awards for the Milken Family Foundation. Jana plays an integral role in creating successful media campaigns, developing relationships with partners and media across the country, as well as building audiences and professional learning communities through the web and social media. In 2015, she was honored with the NIET Distinguished Service Award.

Jana has worked in media and public affairs for over 20 years. She fostered her passion for communications, research, and policy as a graduate research assistant at the University of California at Santa Barbara, then as a deputy press secretary in the U.S. Senate—which took her to Washington, D.C., and to California's 58 counties and 14 media markets. A highlight of that work was directing media strategy for hundreds of press conferences, tours, visits and summits, with topics ranging from homeland security to supporting innovations at local schools.

A proud product of public schools from K-12 to college, Jana graduated with dual bachelor's degrees in English and French from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She spent a year studying at the University of Bordeaux (Lettres), France, and received the Hermione Chevalier Prize from UCSB for writing and research.