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Our Story
The College Success Foundation (CSF) evolved from Governor Gary Locke's 2020 Commission of the Future of Post-Secondary Education which completed its work in October 1998. The last recommendation of the Commission was to "establish an independent, non-profit organization to build and sustain public understanding of the need for higher levels of educational attainment and lifelong learning. This group should be both an independent advocate for post-secondary education, and an organization that urges the system to high standards of accessibility, quality, innovation, efficiency, and responsiveness to the needs of learners."
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The Foundation was established in the spring of 2000 by and . In a climate where one-third of the state's 900,000 K-12 students were on free or reduced lunches and where 17% of public high school students did not graduate, the founders wished to encourage scholarship philanthropy and to significantly change the opportunity structure for disadvantaged students and their families.
Through the work of the Foundation Bob and Ann, as well as the Foundation's Board of Directors, hope to provide pathways for eligible students to succeed in college, and in so doing improve their economic future.
CSF was originally founded in 2000 as the Washington Education Foundation, but changed its name in 2006 to better align with its mission. CSF is managed by CSF President and COO .
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Bob Craves
Bob Craves is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of the College Success Foundation. He also serves as President, CEO and Chairman of the DC College Success Foundation.
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Previously, from1997 through 2005, Mr. Craves served as the chairman of the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board where he was responsible for overseeing the coordination of the budgets and policies of four-year public institutions and the distribution of financial aid to all eligible students, both public and private.
In 1998, Mr. Craves was appointed co-chair of the 2020 Commission on the Future of Post-Secondary Education. At the conclusion of the Commission, Mr. Craves and Ms. Ann Ramsay-Jenkins founded the Washington Education Foundation (now the College Success Foundation), bringing together community leaders from across the state of Washington to help the thousands of students who are left behind—the ones not adequately served or supported by existing government and scholarship programs. Craves has authored a book Funding the Future about this topic.
In 1983 Mr. Craves was one of the founding officers of the Costco Wholesale Corporation. He served as the Senior Vice President of Membership and Marketing until 2000.
Mr. Craves is a member of the board of trustees of the Catholic University of America in Washington DC, the Arizona College Scholarship Foundation and the Le May Museum.
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Ann-Ramsay Jenkins
Ann Ramsay-Jenkins is co-founder and vice chair of the College Success Foundation.
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Ms. Ramsay-Jenkins has chaired the UW Medicine Board, served two terms as a member of Washington's Higher Education Coordinating Board, chaired the United Way of King County Board, the Seattle Repertory Theatre Board of Trustees, and was founding Chairman of the Seattle Repertory Theatre Foundation. She is also active in a number of other civic, professional and community organizations.
Ms. Ramsay-Jenkins's professional experience includes a five-year term as Director of the Office of Budgets at Harvard University, as Assistant Secretary of Administration & Finance for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and as a Management Associate in the Office of Management & Budget, Executive Office of the President, in Washington D.C. She was appointed a White House Fellow in 1972 and served in the Executive Office of the President, Office of Drug Abuse Prevention where she received the Distinguished Service Award in 1973.
Ms. Ramsay-Jenkins, a graduate of Skidmore College, has been a director of Indian Head Banks, Inc. in New Hampshire. She also served as a board member of the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and as a member of President Carter's Advisory Committee for Women.
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Deborah J. Wilds, Ph.D.
Deborah Wilds currently serves as the President and Chief Operating Officer of the College Success Foundation.
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Before coming to the Foundation in 2006, Dr. Wilds was a senior program officer for education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where her responsibilities included serving as the Foundation's liaison to the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, the Gates Cambridge Scholars, and the Washington State Achievers Program and developing other college access related programs for low-income and students of color. She was also responsible for the early college initiative to create 250 new early college high schools across the country.
Prior to that, Dr. Wilds served as the Deputy Director of the American Council on Education's (ACE) Office of Minorities in Higher Education, in Washington, DC. She was the Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors of New Era Education, an independent school and pre-school located in Baltimore, Maryland.
She currently serves as a member on various boards, including the District of Columbia College Success Foundation, Philanthropy Northwest, and College Spark. She also serves on the Board of Regents at Seattle University.
Dr. Wilds was awarded her Ph.D. in Education Policy, Planning, and Administration at the University of Maryland at College Park. She received her M.S. degree in Education Administration from Howard University and her B.S. degree from the California State University, San Diego, in Speech Pathology and Audiology.
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