CDF Leadership & Staff

Edward M. Augustus Jr.
Executive Director, CDF-California

Mr. Augustus is the executive director for CDF-California where he is responsible for managing grassroots organizing and coalition building in California and serves as CDF-CA's lead advocate on behalf of children to the state's elected officials and policy makers. 

Mr. Augustus joins CDF after serving two terms in the Massachusetts Senate. During his tenure in the State Senate, he served as chair of the Senate standing committee on Bills in the Third Reading, was a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and served as Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Election Laws and Senate vice-chair of the Joint Education Committee, Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs and Committee on Public Service, and the Labor and Workforce Development Committee. While in the Senate, Mr. Augustus championed economic development and education issues, fighting tirelessly to boost state education aid and to revise the funding formula so that communities are treated equitably and receive the resources they need.

Prior to his election to the Senate, Augustus served as chief of staff to Third District Congressman James P. McGovern. A leader on education issues, he was also a high-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Education during the Clinton Administration. Mr. Augustus received a B.A. in government and history from Suffolk University and a master's degree in government from The Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C.