Gene Sperling

A long-time advocate of education and effective policy-making, Sperling discusses the importance, life-affirming and empowering qualities of education, skills and job-driven training both in the context of the United States, and where requested, the significance and unique challenges of providing access to quality education for women and children in poor, fragile, and conflict-affected zones. In the Clinton and Obama White Houses, Sperling was the point person for not only skills training for young adults and older workers, but also a lead advisor on strategies for helping all young people access college success and early intervention education and skills strategies. He was also the lead for the President and First Lady's college opportunity summit, and the ConnectEd strategy to spread individualized digital learning to all classrooms in the United States and played a key role in high school redesign efforts. Sperling was Founder and Director of the Center for Universal Education at the Council on Foreign Relations, co-author of What Works in Girls’ Education: Evidence and Policies from the Developing World and the point person for the education section of the Clinton Global Initiative for two years. He also played a critical lead role in the initial design and implementation of Goldman Sach's “10,000 Women,” -- a five-year program with the goal of training women from predominantly developing countries in business and management.