Paige Ponder
Paige Ponder
Chicago
Paige is CEO of One Million Degrees (OMD), an organization dedicated to helping low-income, highly motivated community college students succeed in school, in work, and in life. In the last five years at OMD, Paige has led the organization through a period of growth, dramatically increasing the number of scholars served. She has also launched partnerships to support a growing number of apprentices – young people working and attending community college at the same time – with several major employers in Chicago.

Paige was previously Officer of Student Support and Engagement at Chicago Public Schools, where she designed and led initiatives to increase the number of freshmen on track to graduate by developing early warning indicators and disseminating promising practices for high schools to better support freshmen during this “make or break” year.

Paige graduated from Princeton University in 1996 with a degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She earned an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 2002.

Term Expires: June 30, 2023