Crown Family School Welcomes New Senior Executive Director
It is with pleasure we announce that, after an extensive national search, Paige Ponder will become the Senior Executive Director for the Urban Education Institute (UEI) at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, effective February 17, 2025.
In this new senior leadership role, Ponder will report to Ming-Te Wang, Professor and Faculty Director of UEI, playing a key role in advancing UEI’s strategic priorities.
Ponder’s appointment signals UEI’s renewed mission and vision as a central part of the Crown Family School, and as a preeminent destination focused on urban education research, policy and practice. Ponder will help build an expanded and integrated community of expertise and intellectual capital that will help reframe urban school reform, create scalable solutions, and ensure urban education advances towards its mission to help every student thrive and graduate prepared for life. During a critical period of growth at UEI, Ponder will lead efforts that further distinguish UEI’s stature as a field-leading research, education, policy and practice entity that drives impact in the community. Her leadership builds on UEI’s storied history of urban education innovation and its close collaboration with the Chicago Public Schools.
“I'm excited for Paige to join UEI and bring her leadership to drive our work forward while staying responsive to the evolving needs in education,” said Wang. “Her commitment, expertise, and experience collaborating with UEI and in leveraging its key insights will strengthen UEI’s role in supporting the University of Chicago’s distinct approach to research, community engagement, and education—ensuring both continuity and innovation as we strive to make a lasting impact.”
Working closely with Wang, Ponder will provide strategic leadership and operational oversight to UEI’s initiatives. She will be responsible for driving excellence in research, fostering collaboration, managing resources, engaging with policymakers and thought leaders on key challenges in public education, and building and maintaining strategic partnerships. Ponder will play a major role in representing UEI to external stakeholders, including industry partners, government agencies, philanthropic organizations, and the academic community.
Ponder comes to UEI with extensive experience as a nonprofit and public education leader, including years working at the Chicago Public Schools and a long history of collaboration with UEI’s Consortium on Chicago School Research and the To&Through Project. Most recently, she was Founder and CEO of Idea Jar, LLC, a consulting firm focused on helping education and social impact innovators design and execute high performing initiatives.
As CEO of One Million Degrees, Ponder developed and scaled a fledgling nonprofit organization with an innovative model to accelerate low-income community college students’ progress on career pathways to economic mobility. She led the organization through a period of dramatic growth and launched a rigorous evaluation to measure its impact.
At CPS, Ponder was Officer of Student Support and Engagement, and as Director of Graduation Pathways, she led initiatives to increase high school graduation rates, and closely collaborated with UEI to identify factors impacting student outcomes.
Ponder has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and a BA from the Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs.
“Addressing educational disparities remains a complex and critical challenge. I am honored to join UEI and the Crown Family School, to help advance its mission as a leader in education, as a community of diverse and interdisciplinary expertise, and as an advocate of research that addresses the underlying causes that impact educational outcomes,” said Ponder. “I am eager to collaborate with the talented team at UEI, educators, community leaders, funders, advocates, and policy-makers committed to urban education to innovate and cross-pollinate solutions.”