Hilary C.
Pennington '83
Director of Education, Postsecondary Success, Special Initiatives
U.S. Program
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

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Hilary Pennington, director of Education, Postsecondary Success, and Special Initiatives in the United States Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leads the foundation’s Postsecondary Education initiative as well as efforts around one-time opportunities to respond to unique challenges and unanticipated events in the United States.

Pennington most recently served as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, and as vice-chair of Jobs for the Future (JFF), a research and policy development organization that she co-founded. In her 22 years as president and CEO of JFF, Pennington helped the organization become one of the most influential in the country on issues of education, youth transitions, workforce development, and future work requirements. She played a leading role in the development of early college high schools while at JFF. Pennington served on the Presidential Transition Team for the first Clinton administration and as co-chair of a Presidential Advisory Committee on using technology to expand training opportunities.

Pennington is a graduate of the Yale School of Management and Yale College. She holds a graduate degree in social anthropology from Oxford University and was a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2000.