Chester E. Finn, Jr.
President
Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Chester E. Finn, Jr., scholar, educator and public servant, has devoted his career to improving education in the United States. As Senior Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and chairman of Hoover's Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and Senior Editor of Education Next, his primary focus is the reform of primary and secondary schooling.
Finn is also an Adjunct Fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he worked from 1995 through 1998. From 1999 until 2002, he was John M. Olin Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. In 1992-1994, he served as founding partner and senior scholar with the Edison Project. He was Professor of Education and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University from 1981 until 2002. From 1985 to 1988, he served as Assistant Secretary for Research and Improvement & Counselor to the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education. Earlier positions include Staff Assistant to the President of the United States; Special Assistant to the Governor of Massachusetts; Counsel to the U.S. Ambassador to India; Research Associate at the Brookings Institution; and Legislative Director for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
For 40 years, Finn has been in the forefront of the national debate about school reform. His participation in seminars, conferences, and hearings has taken him to colleges, education and civic groups, and government organizations throughout the world.
Author of 19 books, Finn's latest is Ohio's Education Reform Challenges: Lessons from the Frontlines. Other recent books include Troublemaker: A Personal History of School Reform Since Sputnik; No Remedy Left Behind, co-edited with Frederick M. Hess; Leaving No Child Behind: Options for Kids in Failing Schools, also co-edited with Hess; Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education, co-authored with Bruno V. Manno and Gregg Vanourek; and The Educated Child: A Parent's Guide from Pre-School Through Eighth Grade, co-authored with William J. Bennett and John Cribb.
A native of Ohio, he holds an undergraduate degree in U.S. history, a master's degree in social studies teaching, and a doctorate in education policy, all from Harvard University.
Finn has served on numerous boards of directors, including most recently, the National Council on Teacher Quality and the Philanthropy Roundtable. From 1988-96, he served on the National Assessment Governing Board, including two years as its chair. In 2004-5, he served on the Governor's Commission on Quality Education in Maryland.
A speaker and moderator at myriad events and frequent commentator in the national media, he has also authored more than 400 articles in such publications as The Weekly Standard, Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, Commentary, The Public Interest, Washington Post, New York Times, Education Week, Chronicle of Higher Education, Harvard Business Review, Boston Globe, Life, Education Next, The New York Sun and The Dayton Daily News. He writes a regular column in the Fordham Institute's Education Gadfly.
Finn has received awards for his work from the Educational Press Association of America, Choice magazine, the Education Writers Association, and the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. He holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colgate University.
He and his wife, Renu Virmani, a physician, have two grown children and three adorable granddaughters. They live in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
