Jon Schnur
Co-Founder & Chairman of the Board, New Leaders for New Schools
Jon Schnur is Chairman of the Board and the former CEO of New Leaders for New Schools, a national non-profit organization with one mission: driving high levels of learning and achievement for every student by attracting and preparing outstanding leaders and supporting the performance of the urban public schools they lead at scale.
From 2000, when he co-founded New Leaders for New Schools, to 2010, Jon led the development of the organization’s strategy, management team and board, core values, performance metrics, partnerships, and fundraising. In September 2009, New Leaders for New Schools became the first and only non-profit-led partnership with a public school system to win Harvard University’s Innovations in American Government Award from the ASH Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation. New Leaders recruits and trains approximately 10 percent of the new principals needed for high-poverty, low-income schools in the United States.
From September 2008 to June 2009, Jon took leave from New Leaders for New Schools, serving as an advisor to Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign, a member of the Presidential Transition Team, and a Senior Advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Before co-founding New Leaders for New Schools, Jon served as Special Assistant to Secretary of Education Richard Riley, President Clinton’s White House Associate Director for Educational Policy, and Senior Advisor on Education to Vice President Gore. He has developed national education policies from preschool to higher education – with special focus on teacher and educator quality, reforming urban school systems, charter schools, after-school programs, and early learning and preschools.
Jon graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in Politics with honors, took coursework at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Harvard Business School and the John F. Kennedy School of Government and graduated from a Wisconsin public high school. Jon lives in Montclair, New Jersey with his wife Elisa and their three children: Matthew, Elizabeth and Philip.
