Board of Overseers

Ruth Simmons

Chair (ex officio)

President, Brown University

Ruth Simmons has been president of Brown University since 2001. Previously, she was president of Smith College. She began her academic career at the University of New Orleans and moved to California State University in Northridge in 1977 as visiting associate professor of pan-African studies and acting director of international programs. From 1979 to 1983, she was assistant and later associate dean of graduate studies at the University of Southern California. Between 1983 and 1995, she held positions as director of Afro-American studies, associate dean of the faculty, and vice provost at Princeton University and spent two years as provost at Spelman College in Atlanta. She holds a Ph.D. in Romance languages and literature from Harvard University.

Barbara Reisman

Vice Chair

Executive Director, Schumann Fund for New Jersey

Barbara Reisman has been executive director of the Schumann Fund since 1997. The Schumann Fund makes program and policy grants in New Jersey to support early childhood care and education, environmental protection, and school innovation. From 1986 to 1997, she was executive director of the Child Care Action Campaign (CCAC), a national organization working to improve child care and early childhood education. She is the author of numerous articles and publications on childcare policy. Prior to joining CCAC, she was director of finance and administration at the Environmental Defense Fund. She is a trustee emerita of Brown University and chair of the board of directors of Grantmakers for Education. She also serves on the board of the Newark Education Trust. She served as vice president and public policy co-chair for the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers and on the Board of Trustees of Grantmakers for Children, Youth, and Families.

Larry Berger

Co-founder and CEO, Wireless Generation

Larry Berger is CEO and co-founder of Wireless Generation, headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, an education company that pioneered the adaptation of mobile technologies for teachers. Mr. Berger led the invention of Wireless Generation’s mCLASS system, which enables educators to administer early reading and math formative assessments using handheld computers and then immediately receive diagnosis and targeted instruction. Today, Wireless Generation serves more than 2.5 million children and hosts one of the largest databases of longitudinal student data in the country. Prior to founding Wireless Generation, Mr. Berger served as the educational technology specialist at the Children’s Aid Society, where he led the development of four community computer labs in disadvantaged neighborhoods that have served as models of using technology to empower young people. Mr. Berger also developed, with Wireless Generation co-founder Greg Gunn, the Hole in the Web, an online extension of Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang camp for children with cancer and blood diseases. As a White House Fellow, Mr. Berger worked on science education in the office of the administrator of NASA. Mr. Berger holds a B.A. from Yale University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. He has published widely on education and on educational entrepreneurship and has served as a co-investigator on several federally funded research grants.

Bernicestine McLeod Bailey

President, McLeod Associates, Inc.

Bernicestine McLeod Bailey is president of McLeod Associates, Inc., an information technology consulting firm that specializes in performance management and business intelligence software applications. For twelve years prior to forming McLeod Associates in 1981, she was a systems engineer at IBM. She is also currently involved in building a family gift and toy business. Ms. McLeod Bailey is a member of Brown University’s Class of 1968. She was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2001 and is currently a trustee emerita. She has been involved at Brown most recently as a vice chair of the Campaign for Academic Enrichment, specifically, the Alumni of Color Initiative; immediate past chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Diversity; and chair of the Archives Committee of the Pembroke Associates Council. She has also served as class treasurer; co-founder of the Investment in Diversity Fund; co-founder of the Third World Network; member of the Parents Council; member of several reunion gift committees; and member of the Third World Alumni Activities Committee. She has participated in numerous on-campus forums and seminars. She was an initial recipient of the Brown Alumni Service Award and received the Brown Bear award in 2007. Ms. McLeod Bailey has served as president of the Fairfield/Westchester Chapter of the Independent Computer Consultants Association and a trustee of the Westport, Connecticut, Public Library. Currently, she is a member of the executive committee of the Fairfield County Community Foundation and secretary of team Westport, whose mission is to achieve, extend, and celebrate diversity in the town of Westport. Ms. McLeod Bailey has recently completed terms as a director on the boards of Dress for Success Mid-Fairfield County, where she was treasurer; and REACHPrep, a scholastic program for low-income African American and Latino children from the counties of Fairfield, Connecticut, and Westchester, New York, where she was secretary.

Lewis H. Spence

Professor of Practice, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Lecturer on Education, Harvard Kennedy School

Harry Spence teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School and at its Graduate School of Education, where he is also Co-Director of the Doctor of Education Leadership Program. He served from December 2001 until June 2007 as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, where he was responsible for the Commonwealth’s child welfare program, supervising 3,400 employees, with an annual budget of $750 million. He developed the “next generation” child welfare practice model, which involved the teaming of social workers, a national innovation that won the Kennedy School Innovations in Government Award in 2006. He served from 1995 to 2000 as the Deputy Chancellor for Operations for the New York City Board of Education, and from 1991 to 1995 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance as the Receiver for the City of Chelsea, where his responsibilities included the rebuilding of the city school system and enactment of municipal charter reform. He has provided consulting services to major national organizations with a focus on education and held an appointment as Lecturer in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government from 1988 to 1991. Mr. Spence is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Robin M. Steans

Trustee, Steans Family Foundation

Executive Director, Advance Illinois

Robin Steans is a trustee of the Steans Family Foundation, where she helps guide education and community development grantmaking in the North Lawndale community. She currently serves as Executive Director of Advance Illinois, an independent statewide education policy and advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that Illinois provides a world-class education to every student. Ms. Steans has spent the last thirteen years working on public school reform. She has served as Issues Director of the Small Schools Coalition and as Associate Director of Leadership for Quality Education. Prior to her work in school reform, Ms. Steans taught at public high schools in Boston, San Francisco, and Chicago before going on to earn her law degree. She serves on the board of National-Louis University and Chapin Hall.