ABOUT ALLISON DREW

Few people can navigate the distance between careers in IT, mathematics, and patient care while dedicating service to their community; however, as an Enterprise Data Architect and Licensed Nurse, Allison Drew has bridged that gap. Allison works as an Enterprise Data Architect where she helps hospitals, and ultimately people, communicate better by connecting data from a variety of hospitals in the UT System on a ground-breaking project entitled UT-HIP. As the first venture of its kind worldwide, UT-HIP will help UT Systems understand how to reduce risk, prevent disease and improve prognosis for all Texans. Equally, Allison will be able to utilize this unique skillset to help Fort Bend ISD maximize technology to recapture student enrollment, identify and mitigate gaps in learning, especially at the Middle and High school levels, retain staff, and increase engagement with parents. Prior to her work with UT at the systems level, Allison worked as a Supervisor in the IT Department at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for several years. As a thought leader, she is able to combine her IT prowess with her caring and compassion-driven nursing skills to foster unity, education and sustained growth for the Fort Bend ISD school district.

Allison Drew was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised on Long Island. Allison’s career has followed in the footsteps of her parents. The daughter of immigrants, Allison’s mother worked as an Advanced Practice Nurse and her father was an Architect and community advocate for minorities and immigrants. They emigrated to the US from Trinidad and Cuba/Jamaica respectively. Allison graduated at the age of 16 from Brooklyn Tech High School and attended Penn State University and Rutgers University, where she majored in Pure Mathematics and minored in TV Journalism. Her early career was spent working in international currency finance for Wall Street hedge funds. To reconnect with serving her community, Allison left Wall Street and moved to Texas in 2004 to attend Memorial Hermann Nursing School. Upon graduation, Allison spent several years working as a psych nurse at the Brenham State School, where she treated adults and children with severe physical and mental handicaps. Allison loves to connect with people and has lived in Europe and Africa. She is fluent in Dutch and German and understands Spanish and Portuguese.

Allison relocated to Houston 18 years ago and has resided within Fort Bend county for the last ten years. Being married to FBISD’s Director of Fine Arts, Jim Drew, Allison has become thoroughly engaged with the Fort Bend community, its businesses, organizations and religious entities. She participates in a multitude of community and District meetings and events, as well as charitable functions, and is warmly recognized as the “First Lady of Fine Arts.” She and her husband raise a set of twins. Allison is a former FBISD Board Trustee who rose quickly to become a Texas state-level leader for the Texas Association of School Boards representing Fort Bend ISD.  As a volunteer Reading Buddy, Allison specializes in using data, coupled with her nursing skills, to close gaps caused by language, disability, and improper GT identification. She also volunteers to assist with temporarily displaced families in Fort Bend, as well as works to educate women struggling to break into the Tech Industry. Allison has worked tirelessly to give back to the community that has so generously supported her children’s educational growth and would like to reclaim her seat on the School Board and continue to support her community.