Aspen Institute and NewSchools Venture Fund Name First Class of Fellows in Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education Program
Program will recognize a new generation of entrepreneurial leaders ready to embrace the challenge of improving public education
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – May 24, 2007 —The Aspen Institute and NewSchools Venture Fund today launched the Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education Fellowship Program with the announcement of its inaugural class of Fellows from across the country. The program is designed to recognize and support a new generation of entrepreneurial leaders prepared to address the crucial challenge of transforming public education.
“Education is a cornerstone of our democracy in America,” said Kim Smith, senior advisor of NewSchools Venture Fund, a nonprofit venture philanthropy firm she founded in 1998 to support education entrepreneurs. “In the 21st century, we are asking our public schools to shift from a model focused on processes and inputs to one that measures outcomes and creates constant learning cycles – for both students and adults in the system – to ensure that all of our children have the skills they need to participate in our democracy and in the knowledge economy.”
“The scale and complexity of this challenge is enormous,” added Smith. “There is simply no way to achieve this kind of systems transformation without the passion, tenacity, and out-of-the-box thinking of strong entrepreneurial leaders who will draw together the best thinking from across the public, private and nonprofit sectors.”
The Program
Building on the model of its well-regarded Henry Crown Fellowship Program, the Aspen Institute has partnered with NewSchools to launch this groundbreaking Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education program. As entrepreneurial change agents, these leaders bring a crucial sense of urgency, an action orientation, a dogged optimism that we can achieve these ambitious goals, and a tenacious dedication to the work of transforming public education so that it serves all students well. As a group they represent impressive and diverse experience from across the public, private and non profit sectors.
The Fellowship will provide these accomplished leaders the unusual opportunity to step back from their demanding daily work, to reflect with a group of extraordinary peers on their collective and individual work as leaders and change agents. Together, the group will challenge each other, reflect on their work in the context of values-based leadership, and develop new insights for effective, enlightened leadership in education across the public, nonprofit and private sectors.
“The Aspen Institute has developed a network of programs to recognize and cultivate accomplished, community-minded, and entrepreneurial leaders around the world through our Global Leadership Network,” said Peter Reiling, Executive Vice President for Leadership and Policy Programs at the Aspen Institute. “With the support of E*TRADE Financial, we are pleased to partner with NewSchools Venture Fund to recognize and support these important leaders and change agents within the field of U.S. public education.”
The Fellows
Each year, the Aspen Institute -NewSchools Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education program will select approximately 20 exceptional leaders from across the country. These Fellows will bring a diverse set of backgrounds and skills to the program, having exhibited leadership in the nonprofit, foundation, charter school, and traditional school district sectors, and will hail from a variety of urban and rural communities. The Fellowship will give these extraordinary leaders the opportunity to work together to further develop their own leadership capacity, and to think across traditional silos and sector boundaries in order to push their collective impact to even greater heights.
The 2007 inaugural Fellows for the Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education Program are:
- Russlynn Ali, Vice President, The Education Trust, Executive Director, The Education Trust – West
- Chris Barbic, Founder & Head of Schools, YES Prep Public Schools
- Richard Barth, CEO, Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP)
- Michael Bennet, Superintendent, Denver Public Schools
- Larry Berger, CEO, Wireless Generation
- Phoebe Boyer, Executive Director, Tiger Foundation
- Susan Colby, Partner & Head of San Francisco Office, The Bridgespan Group
- Gretchen Crosby-Sims, Education Program Manager, Joyce Foundation
- John Deasy, CEO, Prince George’s County Public Schools
- Lauren Dutton, Formerly of City Year, Edison Schools and NewSchools Venture Fund
- James Forman, Jr., Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown University, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board, Maya Angelou Public Charter School
- David Harris, President & CEO, The Mind Trust
- Kaya Henderson, Vice President for Strategic Partnerships, The New Teacher Project
- Hosanna Mahaley Johnson, President, Atlanta Local Education Fund, Former Executive Officer for the Office of New Schools, Chicago Public Schools
- Kristen Kane, COO, New York City Department of Education
- Dan Katzir, Managing Director, The Broad Foundation
- Janet Murguía, President & CEO, National Council of La Raza
- Jeremy Nowak, President, The Reinvestment Fund
- Tony Recasner, CEO, Middle School Advocates, Head of School, New Orleans Charter Middle School, Head of School, Samuel J. Green Charter School
- Ref Rodriguez, Founder & Co-CEO, Partnerships to Uplift Communities
- Jon Schnur, CEO & Co-Founder, New Leaders for New Schools
- Jim Shelton, Program Director, Education Division, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Elisa Villaneuva Beard, COO, Teach For America
- Joanne Weiss, Partner & COO, NewSchools Venture Fund
Funding for this inaugural class of Fellows has been provided by E*TRADE Financial.
About the Aspen Institute
The mission of the Aspen Institute is to foster enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue. Through seminars, policy programs, conferences and leadership development initiatives, the Institute and its international partners seek to promote nonpartisan inquiry and an appreciation for timeless values. For more information, visit http://www.aspeninstitute.org.
About NewSchools Venture Fund
NewSchools Venture Fund is a national nonprofit venture philanthropy firm founded in 1998 to transform public education for underserved children by supporting education entrepreneurs and connecting their work to systems change. Through its first two funds, NewSchools invested more than $70 million in 25 for-profit and nonprofit entrepreneurial organizations that have made a measurable difference in the lives of millions of students across the country. Its third fund is focusing on fueling the growth and quality of the charter school movement and on supporting the people, tools and practices needed for public school systems to become performance-driven organizations. For more information, visit http://www.newschools.org.