Our Board

The Board of Directors for KnowledgeWorks, an operating foundation, consists of individuals passionate about reforming education. Board members provide governance, academic, financial, and nonprofit management guidance to help govern the foundation's work and operations.

Board Members


Dean Joseph P. Tomain
Brian Ross
Chad Wick
Dr. Jacquelyn M. Belcher
Dr. Sherrill Cleland
John E. Dean, Esq.
Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones
Lucie Lapovsky, Ph.D
Steven Minter
Richard W. Riley, Esq.
Barry Schuler
Timothy C. Tuff

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Dean Joseph P. Tomain

Chair

Dean Emeritus
Wilbert and Helen Ziegler Professor of Law
University of Cincinnati College of Law Cincinnati, Ohio

Joseph P. Tomain is a Dean Emeritus and the Wilbert and Helen Ziegler Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the George Washington University National Law Center, Mr. Tomain practiced law in New Jersey before beginning his legal teaching career. He has taught at Drake University School of Law, and served as visiting professor at the University of Texas School of Law. His teaching interests include law in Literature and Philosophy and Government Regulation.

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Brian Ross

President and Chief Executive Officer

Brian A. Ross was named President of KnowledgeWorks in September 2010 and also became its Chief Executive Officer in June 2011.

Ross, who began his career as an economics instructor at Miami University, has been a KnowledgeWorks board member since 2007 – a role that allowed him to see the positive impact KnowledgeWorks is having on the education system nationwide.

One of his key goals is to help transform KnowledgeWorks into a social enterprise, working to improve education by growing the number of innovative high schools developed and implemented by the organization nationwide. Ross manages the day-to-day operations of KnowledgeWorks.

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Chad Wick

Founder and Director

Chad Wick is an innovator who seeks to create equity of education opportunity in order to prepare learners to thrive in the 21st century. Recognized by former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley as “one of the outstanding education leaders in the country,” Wick led KnowledgeWorks in its vision to transform education in the United States from a world of schooling to a world of learning. As the founding CEO, he has led KnowledgeWorks to achieve this mission by developing innovative high school approaches, providing seed grants, operating funds and extensive technical assistance and training that promotes and supports sustainable, system-wide changes.

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Dr. Jacquelyn M. Belcher

Vice Chair

President Emeritus
Georgia Perimeter College

In 1995, Dr. Jacquelyn M. Belcher became president of the metro-Atlanta, multi-campus district of DeKalb College, now known as Georgia Perimeter College. Her service as a college president and senior executive in community colleges spans over 25 years.

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Dr. Sherrill Cleland

President Emeritus
Marietta College
Marietta, Ohio

Dr. Sherrill Cleland is President Emeritus of Marietta College and an education and economic consultant. Dr. Cleland's distinguished career as an innovator and leader in higher education initiatives in the United States and abroad spans more than forty years. He served as President of Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, for more than fifteen years and was also a Professor of Economics at the College during that period.

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John E. Dean, Esq.

Principal
Washington Partners, LLC

John Dean is founder and a principal of the Washington, D.C. public affairs firm of Washington Partners, LLC. The firm specializes in federal education programs and represents educational and financial institutions, non-profit associations and organizations, and others involved in education and financial services. Dean is also an attorney and managing partner of the Law Offices of John E. Dean, also in Washington, D.C.

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Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones

Retired Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th District
Blank Rome LLP
Of Counsel

Recently, Judge Nathaniel R. Jones retired from his position as a United States Circuit Judge for the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Jones was appointed to this position by President Carter on May 17, 1979.

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Lucie Lapovsky, Ph.D

Principal, Lapovsky Consulting

Former President of Mercy College

Lucie Lapovsky is an economist who consults, writes, teaches and speaks widely on issues related to higher education finance, strategy, leadership, governance and enrollment management. Recently, much of her work has been with boards of trustees on issues of governance, planning and effectiveness. Her clients include public and private colleges and universities throughout the United States and various companies and organizations throughout the world. Most recently, she met with more than 100 Japanese colleges and universities to discuss issues relating to enrollment and endowment management. She is actively engaged in research on endowment spending, tuition discounting and cost containment in higher education. She also specializes in search work for Chief Financial Officers.

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Steven Minter

Executive-In-Residence
Cleveland State University

Steven Minter was appointed Interim Vice President for University Advancement on May 1, 2010. He had been an Executive-In-Residence at Cleveland State University in September 2003, following his retirement after 28 years from The Cleveland Foundation. At Cleveland State he assists the President in strengthening collaborative relationships between the university and community and is a Fellow, Center for Nonprofit Policy and Practice, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs.

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Richard W. Riley, Esq.

Former United States Secretary of Education
Senior Partner
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
EducationCounsel, LLC

When Riley was Governor of South Carolina, he won national recognition for his highly successful effort to improve education there. He was so popular that the people amended their constitution to enable him to run for a second term. During his service as U. S. Secretary of Education, Riley was referred to as one of the "most decent and honorable people in public life" by renowned Washington Post reporter David Broder. And the Christian Science Monitor reported that many Americans regard Dick Riley as "one of the great statesmen of education in this (20th) century." More recently, in 2009, TIME Magazine named Riley one of the Top 10 Best Cabinet Members in our nation's history.

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Barry Schuler

Chairman of Raydiance, Inc.
Managing Director DFJ Growth Fund

An acclaimed Internet pioneer, Barry Schuler has developed emerging technologies into successful enterprises for the last 25 years. A serial entrepreneur, his career spans breakthroughs in early video games, computer graphics, interactive media, e-commerce, consumerization of the Internet and most recently Ultrashort Pulse Lasers.

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Timothy C. Tuff

Former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
John H. Harland Company

Tim Tuff was the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of John H. Harland Company from 1998 to 2007. Harland was a leading supplier of printed and software products to the financial industry and, through its subsidiary Scantron, to the educational industry.