Rachel Willis is President of FoodCorps, a national nonprofit that advances children’s health, education, and well-being through food in school. FoodCorps places food educators and school nutrition specialists in districts across eight states, offers leadership development offerings to educators interested in food education, and advocates for state and federal policies that advance ensure students have access to nourishing school meals. Rachel previously served as Co-Chair of the Board before becoming President in April 2025. Currently she serves as the organization’s primary internal leader driving impact and spearheading organizational culture.
Prior to joining FoodCorps, Rachel founded Elevating Equity, an organization that supports education-based leaders in creating equitable environments. Through Elevating Equity, Rachel led professional development workshops and conducted equity audits for over 6,000 education leaders nationwide.
Rachel entered the field of education as a Teach For America corps member and spent more than a decade teaching in K-12 schools and universities. Rachel earned numerous accolades, including the 2009 Atlanta Public Schools Elementary Teacher of the Year and the 2010 Milken Educator Award. She served on former Governor Nathan Deal’s Education Advisory Board and as a trustee for the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia. Additionally, she has led leadership development at Teach for America and designed programming for principals at Columbia University Teachers College.
At the time of her award, Rachel was a third-grade teacher looping with her second-grade class and overseeing first-rate improvements in student achievement and education reform at Morningside Elementary School in Atlanta, GA. A product herself of Atlanta’s public school system, her return to implement positive change in education came full circle as she inspired the next generation of students to be proactive about the issues and passions they held dear.
Rachel’s teaching was recognized as being both inventive and regimented. She used differentiated instruction in the classroom and created elaborate virtual field trips, such as decorating her classroom to look like the Forum for a unit on democracy in Ancient Greece. A motivated proponent for students and teachers, Rachel was the first teacher at Morningside to apply for a Promethean interactive whiteboard. Once she was provided with one, she successfully lobbied for the technology’s inclusion in all second- through fifth-grade classrooms. During her tenure at Morningside, Rachel trained more than 70 educators on the state's evaluation system, Classroom Analysis of State Standards (CLASS Keys), and served on the Morningside school design team and PTA advisory committee.
Rachel holds a B.A. in Government from Smith College and an M.Ed. in Organization and Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University. She resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
