Heidi Silver-Pacuilla joined the Virginia Department of Education as the Adult Education Coordinator within the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education in May 2017 and has been deeply involved in the cross-agency implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act in Virginia. She serves on steering committees for several cross-agency grants and task forces including the Accessibility Task Force, the Sector Strategy and Career Pathways Academy, and the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services’ Career Pathways grant. She is passionate about program design, expanding service with partners to underserved communities, lifelong learning, and students’ success and its impact on families and communities.

She is the Chair of the National Association of State Directors of Adult Education (NASDAE) and has served on the board for three years. She serves on the board of the Virginia Literacy Foundation.

Before joining the Virginia team, she served in the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education in the Division of Adult Education and Literacy. There she led the Applied Innovations and Improvement Team, overseeing national activities projects that delivered professional development and resources to practitioners. She provided leadership to the Office on technology initiatives for teaching and learning, the use and interpretation of the OECD Survey of Adult Skills data, and strengthening connections between agencies serving low-skilled and low income adults and families.

Before she was in federal service, Heidi worked with the adult education and educational technology research and technical assistance teams at the American Institutes for Research. She served as a volunteer board member and president (2010) of the National Coalition for Literacy, an advocacy organization promoting the awareness and importance of adult education. Her graduate work at the University of Arizona was in adult literacy and learning disabilities in adulthood.