PANEL : COLLECTIVE IMPACT
Paige Ponder Chief Executive Officer, One Million Degrees Paige is CEO of One Million Degrees, an organization dedicated to helping low-income, highly motivated community college students succeed in school, in work, and in life. Through an innovative model of student supports and professional development, OMD scholars are completing their degrees at dramatically higher rates than typical community college students and pursuing jobs in high-demand fields across Chicago. Paige joins One Million Degrees after leading Project Exploration, a dynamic youth STEM organization. Prior to Project Exploration, Paige was Officer of Student Support and Engagement at Chicago Public Schools. While at CPS, Paige designed and led initiatives to systematically drive up the number of freshmen who were on track to graduate by developing early warning indicators and disseminating promising practices for high schools to better support freshmen during this “make or break” year. Paige holds a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She lives in Chicago with her husband and three little boys. |