Michelle D. Young, Ph.D., is currently a Professor in Education Leadership and Dean of the School of Education at Loyola Marymount University, President of the National Policy Board for Educational Administration, and UCEA Executive Director Emeritus. Young works with universities, practitioners, professional organizations and state and national leaders to improve the preparation and practice of school and school system leaders and to develop a knowledge base on excellence in educational leadership. Young has been instrumental in both increasing the focus of research in the field of educational leadership on leadership preparation and development as well as strengthening research translation, dissemination and utilization processes. Young’s work is published in the Educational Researcher, the American Educational Research Journal, and the Journal of Educational Administration, among other journals. She is the editor of the Handbook of Research on the Education of School Leaders. Her work has significantly increased the focus of education research on leadership preparation, and brought that research to bear on the work of policy makers. Young chaired the development of the National Educational Leadership Preparation (NELP) standards.