Yale School of Management - Board of Advisors

Michela English

Ms. English has been president and CEO of Fight for Children since 2006. An experienced and multi-faceted business executive, Ms. English brings a wealth of business and nonprofit leadership skills, as well as a passion for improving the quality of children's lives.

Ms. English has been a senior executive at Discovery Communications and at the National Geographic Society, after previously serving as an officer at Marriott Corporation and a senior engagement manager at McKinsey and Co. During eight years at Discovery, English served as president of Discovery Consumer Products and as president and COO of Discovery.com. Her responsibilities included Discovery’s nationwide retail chain, global merchandise licensing business, internet, new media, and education businesses. At the National Geographic Society, she served as senior vice president with responsibility for the book division, Traveler magazine, WORLD magazine for children, educational media, and international publishing. She also served as a member of the Society’s board of trustees and as vice chairman of the NGS Education Foundation board.

Throughout her career, Ms. English has held leadership roles in a variety of education, youth-related, and other nonprofit and corporate initiatives. She managed the K-12 education businesses at both Discovery and National Geographic, working directly with teachers to create classroom materials and teacher training programs that would enhance student achievement. She is currently president of the Women’s Forum of Washington, D.C., and serves on the boards of the Educational Testing Service (ETS); D.C. Preparatory Academy (an award-winning public charter school in Northeast Washington); the DC Education Compact (DCEC); the National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC); and the Gladstone companies in McLean, Virginia. She is a member of the Advisory Council of William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science and a member of the Yale School of Management advisory board. She has served as chairman of the board of Sweet Briar College, director of the NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education, director of Riggs National Corporation, and director of the Potomac KnowledgeWay.

Ms. English holds a master of public and private management degree from the Yale School of Management and a bachelor of arts degree from Sweet Briar College. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband Rob Quartel and has two children Eleanore and Will. Eleanore is a corps member of Teach For America teaching middle school in Miami, Florida, and Will is a student at the University of Miami.