Anne Holton

Anne Holton is an affiliate faculty member in the Schar School of Policy and Government and in the College of Education and Human Development, and a Senior Fellow at EdPolicyForward. She is a lifelong advocate for children and families in Virginia.  Holton previously served as Interim President at Mason from 2019-2020 and has served on the faculty since 2017, teaching primarily graduate courses in education policy and public sector leadership.

With an AB from Princeton and a Harvard law degree, Holton has worked as a legal aid lawyer serving low-income families, a juvenile and domestic relations district court judge, a child welfare reformer, and Virginia’s Secretary of Education.

She helped integrate the inner-city schools of Richmond, Virginia, as a child when her father was Virginia's governor in the early 1970s. As Virginia’s First Lady when her husband was governor in 2006-10, Holton championed foster care system reform. As Virginia’s Secretary of Education in 2014-16, she worked to increase Virginia’s investment in public education, to promote innovation and the joy of teaching and learning in our schools, and to ensure every student has a successful pathway to the future, especially those in high-poverty communities. Her life’s work has focused on children and families at the margin, and the crucial role education must play in helping young people escape poverty.

Holton served on the Virginia Board of Education from 2017 to 2025. She and her husband, now a U.S. senator, live in Richmond, Virginia. They have three adult children, all of whom attended Richmond Public Schools.