Bob Craves, Chair and CEO of the Foundation
Bob Craves co-founded the Washington Education Foundation (now the College Success Foundation), a public/private partnership committed to providing college scholarships and mentoring to low-income, high-potential students.

Prior to that, Mr. Craves was appointed to chair the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board in 1997, which oversees budgets and policies of four-year public institutions and distributes financial aid to all eligible students, both public and private.

In 1998, Mr. Craves was appointed co-chair of the 2020 Commission on the Future of Post-Secondary Education. At the conclusion of the Commission, Craves and Ann Ramsay-Jenkins founded the Washington Education Foundation, bringing together community leaders from across the state of Washington to help the thousands of students who are left behind - the ones not adequately served or supported by existing government and scholarship programs.

Mr. Craves is a member of the Board of Trustees of Catholic University in Washington D.C., the Arizona College Success Foundation and the LeMay Museum.

He is married to Geraldine Maloney Craves of San Francisco, a registered nurse, and has one daughter, Dr. Stacie Vaughn Craves.

Deborah Wilds, Ph.D., President and COO of the Foundation
Deborah Wilds currently serves as the President and Chief Operating Officer of the College Success Foundation.

Before coming to the Foundation in 2006, Dr. Wilds was a senior program officer for education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where her responsibilities included serving as the Foundation's liaison to the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, the Gates Cambridge Scholars, and the Washington State Achievers Scholarship Program and developing other college access-related programs for low-income and students of color. She was also responsible for the early college initiative to create 250 new early college high schools across the country.

Prior to that, Dr. Wilds served as the Deputy Director of the American Council on Education's (ACE) Office of Minorities in Higher Education in Washington, DC. At the Council she was responsible for developing strategies and programmatic activities designed to increase and advance persons of color and women's leadership and achievement in postsecondary institutions. She has co-authored several books, written more than 20 articles, and was the senior author of ACE's Annual Status Report on Minorities in Higher Education. Her expertise and commitment to improving educational opportunities for low-income youth and students of color have positioned her to serve in numerous advisory and policy roles throughout her career. She was the co-founder and chair of the Board of Directors of New Era Education, an independent school and pre-school located in Baltimore, Maryland. She has also served on the board of the National Association for Women in Education and currently serves on the boards of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities and College Spark.

Dr. Wilds was awarded her Ph.D. in Education Policy, Planning, and Administration at the University of Maryland at College Park. She received her M.S. degree in Education Administration from Howard University and her B.S. degree from the California State University, San Diego in Speech Pathology and Audiology.

Joseph Gaffney, Secretary to the Board of Directors
Joseph M. Gaffney is a partner with the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney LLP and a member of the Policy Committee that governs the firm.

His legal practice emphasizes tax, business and estate planning, including IRS dispute resolution. He is general counsel to a wide variety of families, closely held business owners, investment partnerships, trusts, and charitable organizations.

Mr. Gaffney is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Council and is a member of the Seattle Estate Planning Council and the Washington State and King County Bar Associations.

He also serves as a member of the Boards of Directors of the Seattle Foundation, the Seattle University Foundation, the Seattle ArtsFund, and the Nesholm Family Foundation.

Mr. Gaffney received his baccalaureate degree from Seattle University in 1967. He subsequently received his J.D. from Hastings College of Law, University of California in 1972 and his L.L.M. in Taxation from New York University in 1975.

James H. DeGraffenreidt, Jr.
James H. DeGraffenreidt, Jr., is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of WGL Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Washington Gas. He also serves as Chairman and CEO of Washington Gas. During his twenty years with Washington Gas, Mr. DeGraffenreidt has served in many different leadership roles.

Mr. DeGraffenreidt has been committed to industry leadership as well as community service throughout his career. He currently serves on the boards of American Gas Association, Alliance to Save Energy, MedStar Health, Harbor Bankshares Corporation, Federal City Council, Maryland Science Center, The Walters Art Museum and the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Mr. DeGraffenreidt received the degrees of Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from Columbia University in 1978 and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale College in 1974. He is married with four children.

Donald E. Graham
Donald E. Graham became Chief Executive Officer of The Washington Post Company in May 1991 and Chairman of the Board in September 1993. He also is Chairman of The Washington Post newspaper. He was Publisher of The Post from January 1979 until September 2000.

Mr. Graham was born on April 22, 1945, in Baltimore, Maryland, a son of Philip L. and Katharine Meyer Graham. His father was Publisher of The Washington Post from 1946 until 1961 and President of The Washington Post Company from 1947 until his death in 1963. His mother, Katharine Graham, served in a variety of executive positions from 1963 until her death in 2001. Eugene Meyer, Mr. Graham's grandfather, purchased The Washington Post at a bankruptcy sale in 1933.

After graduating in 1966 from Harvard College, where he was President of the Harvard Crimson, Graham was drafted and served as an information specialist with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. He was a patrolman with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department from January 1969 to June 1970. Graham joined The Washington Post newspaper in 1971 as a reporter and subsequently held several news and business positions at the newspaper and at Newsweek. He was named Executive Vice President and General Manager of the newspaper in 1976.

He was elected a director of The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO) in 1974 and served as President from May 1991 to September 1993.

Mr. Graham serves as a director of BrassRing, Inc., and as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board. He is President of the District of Columbia College Access Program and a trustee of the Federal City Council in Washington, D.C. Mr. Graham is a member of the Board of Directors of The Summit Fund of Washington.

Donald Graham and his wife, Mary, have four children and live in Washington, D.C.

Patricia McGuire
Patricia McGuire has been President of Trinity College since 1989. Before coming to Trinity, Ms. McGuire was the Assistant Dean for Development and External Affairs for Georgetown University Law Center, where she was also an adjunct professor of law. Earlier, she was project director for Georgetown's D.C. Street Law Project. She was also a legal affairs commentator for the award-winning CBS children's newsmagazine "30 Minutes" and the Fox Television program "Panorama" in Washington. President McGuire earned her bachelor of arts degree cum lade from Trinity College and her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. She is currently a member of the boards of directors of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the Washington Metropolitan Consortium of Universities, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, Goodwill of Greater Washington, the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative, the Joint Military Intelligence College, and the UNIFI Mutual Holding Company and its subsidiary the Acacia Mutual Life Insurance Company. She is a member of the Independent Governance Advisory Panel for the American Red Cross. She serves on committees of the American Council on Education, the Girl Scouts of the Nation's Capital, and other civic and educational organizations.

In 2000, President McGuire was appointed by D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and the D.C. Financial Control Board to a special term on the Education Advisory Committee overseeing the D.C. Public Schools. In June 1998, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin appointed President McGuire to serve as a member of the first-ever citizens' advisory panel on coinage, the 8-member Dollar Coin Design Advisory Committee, which recommended the image of Sacagawea for the dollar coin.

President McGuire has received honorary degrees from Georgetown University, the College of New Rochelle, and the College of St. Elizabeth. Washingtonian Magazine has named her among the "100 Most Powerful Women of Washington" on several occasions, most recently in 2006. She has also received honors and awards from the Washington Business Journal, D.C. College Access Program, Gallaudet University, Georgetown University Law Center, and other civic and educational organizations. President McGuire writes and speaks on a wide variety of topics concerning higher education, women and Catholic education, and her articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Current Issues in Catholic Higher Education, and a wide variety of other publications.

Floretta McKenzie
Floretta McKenzie has a distinguished record of more than 40 years of service in education as both a school administrator and educational consultant. Born in Lakeland, Florida, she went on to earn a B.A. from D.C. Teachers College in 1956 and a M.Ed. from Howard University in 1957, before beginning her career as a teacher in Maryland. Dr. McKenzie later rose through the District of Columbia Public School System and became Deputy Superintendent in 1973. In 1974, she returned to Maryland and was hired as Area Assistant Superintendent for Montgomery County Public Schools. Dr. McKenzie worked for the U.S. Department of Education as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of School Improvement, managing fifteen federal education discretionary programs and initiatives. She also served as the U.S. Delegate to the UNESCO General Conference in Yugoslavia.

In 1981, Dr. McKenzie returned to D.C. Public Schools as the Superintendent of Schools and Chief State School Officer. In this capacity, she oversaw the country's twenty-first-largest school system, managing 89,000 students, 13,000 employees and a $400 million budget. Under her leadership, the District established several public and private partnerships to improve instructional programs and district management. Dr. McKenzie also oversaw the implementation of the Five-Year Computer Literacy Plan, one of the country's first long-range programs for integrating technology into the public school curriculum.

Dr. McKenzie left her position in 1988 to form her own company, The McKenzie Group, an educational consulting firm. She served as its first president until 1997, when she became the company's chairperson. The McKenzie Group specializes in educational management and planning.

Dr. McKenzie serves on several boards of directors, including the National Geographic Society, Marriott International, the White House Historical Association, Howard University and the Johns Hopkins Leadership Development Program. She also lectures in the American University's Graduate School of Education.

James H. Shelton, III
James Shelton currently serves as the Program Director of the Education Division at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation managing the Foundation's new school creation, school improvement and college access programs. In his current capacity, Mr. Shelton focuses on programs that leverage new school creation and school conversion to transform the American high school experience from anonymous, comprehensive schools to more personalized and rigorous schools that prepare students for college, work and citizenship.

Immediately prior, Mr. Shelton was a partner and the east coast lead for the NewSchools Venture Fund. In addition to participating in NewSchools traditional investing activities, he also worked closely with the Chancellor of New York City Public Schools to craft Children First, the comprehensive reform strategy for the school system. Before joining NewSchools, Mr. Shelton also co-founded LearnNow, a school management company that later merged with Edison Schools. Previously, he spent over four years as a senior management consultant with McKinsey & Company. During this time, he advised CEOs and other executives of Fortune 500 companies on issues related to corporate strategy, business development, organizational design, and operational effectiveness. He also played a leadership role in early efforts to create and launch McKinsey's non-profit practice and personally served as a pro bono consultant to myriad organizations including Rebuild LA, Learning Through the Arts, and The Urban League. Upon leaving McKinsey, Jim joined Knowledge Universe, Inc., where he first fully married his corporate skills and training with his commitment to changing urban education. At Knowledge Universe, Mr. Shelton developed, acquired, and operated several education-related businesses, ranging from early learning products to teacher professional development programs.

Mr. Shelton holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Atlanta's Morehouse College, as well as master's degrees in business administration and education from Stanford University.

Rodney E. Slater
Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater is a partner with Patton Boggs LLP, where he helps clients integrate their interests in the overall vision for the transportation system of the 21st Century - a vision he set as transportation secretary to promote a safer, more efficient, environmentally sound and sustainable worldwide transportation infrastructure. Mr. Slater also helps state and local government clients address the vexing challenge of closing the gap between transportation demand and capacity by employing public/private strategies and innovative financing solutions. Mr. Slater's practice focuses on many of the policy and transportation objectives that were set under his leadership, including aviation competition and congestion mitigation, maritime initiatives, high-speed rail corridor development, and overall transportation safety and funding. He continues to embrace the framework he established as secretary for making transportation decisions that called for more open, collaborative and flexible decision making across the transportation enterprises here and abroad.

As Secretary of Transportation under President Bill Clinton, Mr. Slater passed several historic legislative initiatives over his tenure, including the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). Previous to his tenure as Transportation Secretary, Mr. Slater served as director of the Federal Highway Administration and was the agency's first African-American administrator in its century-long history.

Patricia Raikes
An active community service leader, Tricia Raikes is involved in numerous causes, with a focus on education, children and family issues. She is a long-time supporter of United Way of King County where she most recently served as co-chair of the 2006-07 United Way of King County Campaign. Ms. Raikes' leadership in higher education includes service on the Board of Directors of the College Success Foundation, as Trustee of the University of Nebraska Foundation and as past trustee of the Washington State University Foundation. She is a former board member of the King County Boys & Girls Club and served as Board President of the Redmond-Kirkland Boys & Girls Club. Ms. Raikes also leads the Raikes Foundation.

In addition to her service in the community, Ms. Raikes has had a successful career in marketing. She built the creative services organization for Microsoft Corporation in its early years. She also held positions with Chiat Day Advertising and was co-founder of Marketing Partners, a marketing services firm.

Ms. Raikes holds a B.A. from Washington State University. She is a native of Seattle, Washington where she resides with her husband Jeff and their three children.

Samuel H. Smith, Ph. D.
Samuel H. Smith is president emeritus of Washington State University.

Dr. Smith has enjoyed a distinguished career in higher education, first at the University of California at Berkeley, then at Pennsylvania State University. He served 15 years (July 1, 1985 - June 8, 2000) as president of Washington State, the eighth leader of the institution in its 110-year history.

Dr. Smith has served as chair on a number of boards during his career in higher education. They include the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of the Talaris Research Institute. He served as chair of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges Board of Directors for 2000.

In 2000, he was honored by the state of Washington Legislature. The Senate and House of Representatives both issued special resolutions honoring his contributions to Washington State University and the state. In addition, Washington's Snohomish County and King County lauded him for his leadership and accomplishments.

Before his association with Washington State, Dr. Smith served 16 years at Penn State, initially as a faculty member, then department head, and finally, dean of the College of Agriculture and director of both the Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station.

A native of Salinas, California, he holds bachelor's and doctoral degrees in plant pathology from the University of California at Berkeley and honorary doctoral degrees from Nihon University in Tokyo, Japan, and Far Eastern State University in Vladivostok, Russia.