Mike Petrilli is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he specializes in education policy studies. He is also executive vice president at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, where he oversees the organization's research projects and publications, including The Education Gadfly and the Flypaper blog. He also serves as executive editor of Education Next, where he writes a regular column on technology and media, as well as feature-length articles.

Petrilli has published opinion pieces in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal and appears regularly on NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, CNN, and Fox. He’s been a guest on several National Public Radio programs, including All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, and the Diane Rehm Show. He is author, with Frederick M. Hess, of No Child Left Behind: A Primer.

Previously Petrilli was an official in the US Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement and a vice president at K12.com. He began his career as a teacher at the Joy Outdoor Education Center in Clarksville, Ohio, and holds a bachelor's degree in honors political science from the University of Michigan.

He lives with his wife, Meghan, and sons Nico and Leandro in Bethesda, Maryland.