MENLO PARK, Calif. – Barbara Chow, a domestic policy expert with broad government experience, will join The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as director of its Education Program.
Chow, who currently serves as policy director for the Budget Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, will replace Marshall Smith, whose term with the Foundation ends on December 31.
“Barbara’s sure grasp of how policy and government interact, combined with her knowledge of education issues, make her the ideal candidate to lead the Education Program,” said Hewlett Foundation President Paul Brest. “We’re delighted she’ll be working with us to help our grantees improve education in California and around the world.”
Before joining the Hewlett Foundation, Chow served in both terms of the Clinton White House. From 1993 to 1997 she was a Special Assistant to the President for legislative affairs, in which capacity she was White House liaison to Congress on economic, budget, and appropriation matters.
From 1997 to 2001, Ms. Chow worked in the Office of Management and Budget, where she was Associate Director for Education, Income Maintenance, and Labor. Starting in 2000, she kept the OMB position and added the job of Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council.
“I am thrilled to be joining the Foundation,” Chow said. “More than ever, as the needs of our increasingly globalized age evolve, improving education is a lynchpin for a better world. And few institutions seem to understand the breadth and importance of that task as well as Hewlett’s Education Program.”
Chow served as a member of the board of Grantmakers for Education from 2001 to 2006, the last two years as co-chair and then chairman; as ex-officio board member of the National Environmental Education Foundation from 2004 to 2006; and as a member of the steering committee of the Geography Education National Implementation Plan from 2001 to 2006.
Among Chow’s responsibilities will be to oversee grantmaking in four key areas: raising student achievement at low-performing urban schools; reforming California’s K-12 public school system; improving educational outcomes at California’s community colleges; and broadening access to educational materials on the Internet through the Foundation’s open educational resources initiative.
Raised in Fullerton, California, Chow has a bachelor’s degree in government from Pomona College and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley.
Earlier in her career, she worked as a member of the staff of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee; as staff member of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee; and as a manager of federal budget policy at Price Waterhouse.
About The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been making grants since 1967 to help solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. The Foundation concentrates its resources on activities in education, environment, global development, performing arts, philanthropy and population, and makes grants to support disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. A full list of all the Hewlett Foundation’s grants can be found here.