Kristin Bernhard is the CEO of Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS), where she leads efforts to advance high-quality early learning and support policies that help Georgia’s children and families thrive. In this role, she works with partners across the state to strengthen early childhood systems, expand access to opportunity, and elevate the importance of early education.
Prior to joining GEEARS, Kristin served as the executive director of corporate social responsibility and public advocacy at Primrose Schools, where she led the Primrose Corporate Social Responsibility program, Primrose Promise, and the Primrose Schools Children’s Foundation. She also previously served as Chief Policy and Research Officer at Start Early and as Deputy Commissioner for System Reform at the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, where she led major initiatives to strengthen the state’s early learning system.
Her career has also included serving as Education Policy Advisor to Governor Nathan Deal and working in the policy office of Governor Sonny Perdue. Kristin is a member of the inaugural class of the Governor Zell Miller Foundation Leadership Institute and the University of Georgia’s 40 under 40 class of 2018. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia and Georgia State University’s College of Law.
