Jerald L. Newberry

Jerry Newberry is currently the Executive Director of the National Education Association’s Health Information Network, the health division of the 3.2 million-member National Education Association. He has raised more than $30 million to develop materials and training that address a wide spectrum of school- related health issues.

He co-authored NEA Health Information Network’s Can We Talk?/Conversamos?, a parent education program that promotes in-depth conversations between parents and their children about healthy decision making. He also created NEA’s Safe Schools Now video series. The ninth video in the series, “Mind over Media”, was co-produced with Court TV and was designed to teach elementary, middle school and high school students to analyze violent messages in the media. The video’s message reached more than 23 million viewers.

Before joining NEA HIN, Jerry directed the Sex Education Program for Fairfax County Schools. He developed the Fairfax County Family Life Education curricula for grades K-12, and ensured the program’s compliance with Virginia Department of Education standards. During his six-year tenure, Fairfax County teen pregnancy rates dropped by 25 percent. He has been interviewed by and/or appeared on many media outlets including NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, National Public Radio, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and more than two hundred others.

He is the recipient of The National Education Association’s Human and Civil Rights Award; The Virginia Education Association’s Mary Futrell Human and Civil Rights Award, as well as numerous other awards.

Jerry graduated with a B.A. from Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia, and earned his Masters in Education from George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. He also completed a Post-Masters Two-Year Internship at The Family Therapy Institute in Rockville, Maryland.

Jerry’s tip for staying healthy is to find time each day to acknowledge what he’s grateful for in life.