User Profile

Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Gerard Robinson is a trustee at Patten University, a regionally accredited for-profit higher education institution located in Oakland, CA that offers campus-based and online degrees. Its parent company is UniversityNow, Inc., a social venture based in San Francisco, CA, whose mission is to ensure that a quality higher education is available to people everywhere. Robinson is a former V.P. of partnerships at UNOW. Prior to UNOW, Gerard served as Florida commissioner of education and the Virginia secretary of education. Gerard began his executive career in education and public policy as president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options from 2007 to 2010. In addition to his published work on K-12 and higher education, Gerard discussed the merits of the American public school choice movement at the Summer Institute for Educators held at Oxford University in England, and examined policy issues with university personnel at the Higher Education Institute held at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.?Other international study-tours include travel to China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Gambia, Germany, Haiti, Israel, and Senegal. Gerard is a board member for the Georgia G.O.A.L Scholarship Program, a founding board member of K.I.P.P. STRIVE Academy in Atlanta, a member emeritus at Chiefs for Change, and an advisory committee member for the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University and at the Pioneer Institute, respectively. He earned an Ed.M. degree from Harvard University, a B.A. degree from Howard University, and an A.A. degree from El Camino Community College. He is married and has three daughters. Gerard is a Fellow of the 12th class of the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.