JPEF PRESIDENT

Rachael Tutwiler Fortune

Rachael Tutwiler Fortune is the President of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, where she leads the organization to help ensure every student in Duval County attends a high-quality school. Having served in government, non-profit, district and school-based roles, Rachael draws upon significant professional experience at all levels of the education system. A Jacksonville native, she returned to her hometown as JPEF’s Executive Vice President in 2017 before being appointed President in November 2018.

Rachael previously served on the senior leadership team at America’s Promise Alliance as Senior Director of the GradNation Campaign. She was selected a 2013 Presidential Management Fellow and served as a Program Officer at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC, where she managed a portfolio of multi-million-dollar Race to the Top grants during the Obama Administration.

Prior to this, she served as an Education Pioneers Fellow at the Oakland Unified School District to improve community school strategic planning across the district. Earlier, she led JPEF's community mobilization efforts, launching the ONE by ONE campaign to mobilize stakeholders to develop a shared vision for local schools. Rachael began her career as a Duval County Public Schools teacher at S. P. Livingston Elementary School through Teach for America – Jacksonville’s charter corps.

Rachael holds a master’s degree in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership from Stanford University and a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of North Florida. At UNF, she served as the second African American female Student Government President, Director of the African American Student Union, and joined Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Rachael currently serves on the Board of Directors of Jewish Family and Community Services, on the Steering Committee of the Women’s Giving Alliance, and as a mentor through UNF’s Community Alliance for Student Success. She was recognized by Jacksonville Business Journal as one of the First Coast’s 40 under 40 in 2020 and is a member of Leadership Florida in Education Class of 2018. She is happily married to her husband, Emmanuel, and is the proud mother of their three children, Nicholas, Elle, and Riley.