Daniel Anello has served as CEO of Kids First Chicago since 2015. Daniel Anello brings deep quantitative analytical skills and authentic lived experience to his role in supporting parent-led and data-informed change within Chicago’s public schools. He partners with families to help them gain the resources, information, access, and voice they need to achieve their vision for their children’s education.
In recent years, parent leaders and Kids First Chicago have spearheaded Chicago’s groundbreaking digital equity program, Chicago Connected, led CPS’s most inclusive accountability policy redesign initiative to date, established a universal factbase for schools across the city, developed a universal enrollment platform for high schools, and organized local education improvements in communities across the city.
In 2015, Daniel was named in the inaugural class of Presidential Leadership Scholars, an initiative that draws upon the resources of the U.S. presidential centers of Lyndon B. Johnson, George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush. He was a member of the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship Summer 2016 cohort and the Leadership Greater Chicago 2018-19 cohort. Daniel is also a member of Education Leaders of Color, and a Board member of Bottom Line Chicago and Chicago Urban League. In 2021, Daniel received a Medal of Honor from Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot for his leadership of the Chicago Connected program.
Daniel was invited to share his personal leadership story at the Presidential Leadership Forum in 2018; view his story here.
Daniel received a BA in Mathematics from Williams College and an MBA from University of Chicago Booth.