The Ed-Fi Alliance is recognizing the people behind the progress – leaders using connected data to build tools that work for students.
At the 2025 Ed-Fi Alliance Summit, the Alliance announced this year’s Community Award recipients:
- Ambassador of the Year: Dan Ralyea, South Carolina Department of Education
- Rookie of the Year: Vijay Gollapudi, Tennessee Department of Education
- Innovation of the Year: TalentED Dashboards from the Texas Education Agency, led by Mark Olofson and Paige Tooley
- Community Service Award: 1EdTech and the Ed-Fi Alliance Rostering Steering Committee
Each award comes with a $5,000 donation to a U.S. public charity of their choice.
The Ed-Fi Alliance brings together state leaders, district teams, developers, and vendors to build systems that talk to each other and work better for students. Since 2017, the Community Awards have recognized those who turn shared data into shared progress.
These are the people building real solutions to real challenges in education. This year’s recipients reflect that mission in action, creating tools that help students stay on track, show growth, and achieve outcomes that matter.
Congratulations to the 2025 honorees. You’re not just building tools — you’re setting a higher standard for how education data drives results.
