Marielys Divanne

Marielys Divanne is the Executive Director of Educators for Excellence-New York (E4E-NY), leading the organization’s flagship chapter and its 15,000+ members. 

Divanne has over 25 years of experience advocating for education equity in New York City, most recently serving as the Senior Advisor for the Office of Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives and First Deputy Mayor at City Hall.

She also possesses extensive non-profit leadership experience, leading the Children’s Cabinet as Interim Executive Director, and previously acting as the Vice President of Education for United Way of New York City (UWNYC), where she led UWNYC’s education equity-focused initiatives, including ReadNYC – a crucial part of New York City’s implementation of the National Campaign for Grade Level Reading.

Her education advocacy background also includes serving as the former National Organizing Director at OurTurn and the former Lead Organizer & Executive Director at a Metro IAF chapter in both Manhattan and the South Bronx, where she led the campaign that built the Mott Haven Schools Campus.

Divanne was born and raised in the Dominican Republic until the age of ten. She is a first-generation college graduate, having earned her undergraduate degree from Boston College, a Master of Fine Arts in Nonfiction Writing from Columbia University as well as a Leadership, Organizing, and Action: Leading Change certificate from Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Education Program. 

Marielys lives with her life partner Mike, 17-year-old son Shawn and 3-year-old daughter Sienna.