Ann Tran

Ann brings two decades of experience across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. An education advocate and former public school teacher, Ann has focused her career on expanding opportunity, advancing equity, and strengthening community development for underserved populations.

Most recently, she worked abroad for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she advanced health, education, and community development programs across five continents. She oversaw strategic planning, program design, impact measurement, and internal and external communications for $200M+ community development portfolios across Central America and East Africa. She also led USAID’s strategic communications in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, advising senior government leaders on public relations and diplomacy within a highly complex political and humanitarian environment. She began her federal government service in communications and community affairs in Eastern Europe. Earlier in her career, Ann worked in corporate advertising and marketing in San Francisco and later taught in elementary schools in South America and throughout the United States, including in Henderson and Buncombe counties. She is thrilled to be back in her beloved Western North Carolina community where you can often find her on the trails with her family and dogs.

Ann holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Illinois in Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in communications from Saint Mary’s College of California.