Director of Early Childhood Strategy
Ryan Tauriainen is the Director of Early Childhood Strategy for Friendship Public Charter School. He received his BA in classics from Middlebury College (2008) and his M.Ed from Chaminade University of Honolulu (2010). Ryan’s career in education began with Teach For America-Hawaii, in which his students outperformed all similar classrooms in the state. In 2010, Ryan’s career in education moved him to Washington, DC — eventually becoming a “resident” in the New Leaders program. Ryan was promoted to principal with AppleTree Early Learning in 2012, keeping this role for four years. He began his principalship at 26, the youngest in the country at the time. While a principal, Ryan was twice named “Most Outstanding Principal” by the DC Association of Chartered Public Schools in 2015 and 2016. Ryan was made the inaugural winner of The Washington Post’s “Principal of the Year” Award, in 2016. Currently Ryan manages an early childhood program across multiple schools and hundreds of children. In September, he was inducted into the 2016 class of the Top Forty Under 40 by the Association Forum and USAE based on the transformative work he has already started.