William Mattox serves as the Senior Director of the J. Stanley Marshall Center for Education Freedom at The James Madison Institute. In this role, he works with various researchers, policymakers, educators, and parents to promote innovative reforms designed to ensure that all K-12 students can obtain a high-quality education tailored to their unique needs.
Over his distinguished career, Mattox has
- written numerous articles on education-related issues for leading publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and USA TODAY;
- presented expert testimony on education-related issues before Congressional and State legislative committees.
- spoken at major education conferences around the country and at international meetings in Prague, Geneva, Dublin, Rome, and Madrid
- led workshops on persuasive and free speech and communication writing at Duke, Vanderbilt, the University of Virginia, and other prominent universities;
- written supplemental curriculum guides on civic virtue, including one that won a national SPNovation Award from the State Policy Network (SPN); and
- directed several education-related video shorts, including a feature story that won a Spark Freedom national award.
In recent years, Mattox has been honored by the Positive Coaching Alliance at Stanford University for his work promoting character development in youth sports, by Yale University’s William F. Buckley, Jr. Program for his essay writing, and by the University of Georgia as the recipient of its Henry Grady Distinguished Alumni Award.
Outside of JMI, Mattox serves as the advisory board chair for the Village Square, a civic organization that seeks to bridge cultural, political, religious, and racial divides. In this role, he spearheaded the greater Tallahassee area commemorating the 100th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s birth (in nearby Cairo). He has also served on the Tallahassee Civil Rights Landmark Committee and the Mary McLeod Bethune Statue Events Committee.
Mattox and his wife, Jill, have four adult children.
