Alison began her career in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, working as a middle and high school teacher and campus leader and as a district administrator. She has been recognized at the local, state, and national levels for leading school transformation efforts. Her accomplishments as a middle school principal were profiled in Getting Smart: 100 Schools Worth Visiting and in the book, Breakthrough Principals: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building Stronger Schools. The book encourages principals across the country to value and invest in teacher leadership models.

In 2016, Alison spoke before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions about Every Student Succeeds Act legislation on the importance of supporting teachers and school leaders. Most recently, she was the vice president of opportunity culture design and implementation at Public Impact. As part of the firmwide strategy team, she helped to scale the Opportunity Culture initiative in schools across the nation and created internal systems to support operations and development.

Alison earned her doctorate in educational leadership from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, from which she also holds a master’s in education with a focus on risk and prevention in adolescents. She has a bachelor’s in English from Spelman College, and during her time at Spelman studied urban education and leadership through Stanford University’s domestic exchange program.