Contributor

Rod Paige, Former Secretary of Education (2001-2005)

Rod Paige, U.S. Secretary of Education from 2001 to 2005, remains committed to the improvement of the quality of education for all students. He is an active member of the boards of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and Broad Foundation and a member of the New Commission on The Skills of The American Workforce created by the National Center on Education and the Economy. Paige established a reputation for seeking out and implementing innovative approaches to systemic academic improvement when he served as Dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern University. It was there that he established the university's Center for Excellence in Urban Education. He has also shown a knack for inclusive leadership throughout his career, first as a trustee and then as Superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, the nation's seventh largest district, and then as U.S. Secretary of Education where he employed "best of breed" solutions to achieve the Department's goal of raising national standards of educational excellence. Paige also served as a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. And, in the private sector, he has provided counseling services to both public and private sector organizations and businesses in the U.S. and globally.