Sally Lovejoy

Sally Gray Lovejoy was appointed by President George W. Bush and Secretary Margaret Spellings as the Education Attaché to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in May, 2006 and served in that capacity until the end of President Bush’s term in January, 2009.  In that role, she was responsible for all education issues coming before UNESCO.  Lovejoy worked closely with First Lady Laura Bush in her role as Honorary Ambassador for the UN Literacy Decade organizing the first ever White House Conference on Global Literacy sponsored by Mrs. Bush and UNESCO.  As a follow up to that conference, Lovejoy organized six UNESCO regional literacy conferences in Doha, Qatar, Beijing, China, Mali, Africa, New Delhi, India, Baku, Azerbaijan and Mexico City, Mexico. She also helped work to establish a $2.5 million U.S. fund at UNESCO to promote and improve global literacy.  Additionally, she worked on international higher education issues including developing voluntary guidelines for quality provisions in cross-border higher education, implementing the UNESCO Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa, promoting the United States community college model in developing countries, and increasing the use of technology in higher education to advance change and empower students. 

Lovejoy spent 25 years on Capitol Hill, 18 on the House Education and the Workforce Committee.  From 2000-2006, Lovejoy served as the Director of Education and Human Resources Policy.  Her chief legislative accomplishments include: 

• Chief House Committee staff negotiator for the No Child Left Behind Act.  She worked with the White House to develop, write, introduce, pass and enact this landmark legislation.
• Streamlined and reformed the Federal student aid program and successfully won passage of budget reconciliation legislation saving more than $12 billion in federal spending. 
• Successfully developed and guided every legislative initiative on education and training through the Congress from 2000 through 2006.

Lovejoy retired from the Federal government in 2009 after 28 years of service and established her own company, SGL International, LLC focusing on providing strategic policy advice on international and domestic education issues.  She continues to be involved in education policies that ensure that all children have the opportunity to receive a quality education both in the United States and overseas. 

Lovejoy received a B.A in International Affairs from Sweet Briar College.