Iris Chen Named Executive Director of The Fund for Public Schools

 

Iris Chen has been named executive director of The Fund for Public Schools.

 

Chen comes to the Fund from Beyond Z, a nonprofit start-up that is cultivating the next generation of American leaders, with particular attention to young people from low-income communities. 

 

As executive director, Chen will focus on the New York Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña's priorities and critical initiatives across the system, to help ensure all of the city’s students have access to a rigorous and enriching education. Under Chen’s leadership, The Fund will promote the City’s historic expansion of high-quality pre-K, the Common Core Learning Standards, college and career readiness, and increased access to libraries, the arts, and robust afterschool programs. She will also lead fundraising efforts to support innovative teaching and learning practices, including the incorporation of technology in the classroom, as well as greatly enhanced professional development of teachers and school leaders.

 

Previously, Chen served as president and CEO of the “I Have a Dream” Foundation, a national organization working to expand underrepresented students’ access to higher education.  As part of her work with the foundation, Chen developed new partnerships and initiatives to support aspiring college students from underrepresented communities.  Chen also had been executive director of Teach for America – New York, where she led a major expansion of the organization’s teacher corps in New York City, launched a new school leadership initiative, and significantly increased engagement with individual New Yorkers and the private sector. In earlier years, she served as vice president and National Program Director of Teach for America, and taught at P.S. 307 in Brooklyn from 1990-1993. 

 

Chen received an undergraduate degree from Yale University as well as a JD and MBA from Harvard University.