Speaker Biographies
September 9, 2005
Senator Lamar Alexander, the only Tennessean ever to be popularly elected both governor and United States Senator, chairs the Education and Early Childhood Development Subcommittee, the Energy Subcommittee, as well as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Caucus. He is also a member of the Foreign Relations and Budget Committees. Senator Alexander has been U.S. Education Secretary under President George H.W. Bush, president of the University of Tennessee, and the Goodman professor at Harvard University’s School of Government. He was chairman of the National Governor’s Association and President Reagan’s Commission on Americans Outdoors. In private life, he helped found a company that is now the nation’s largest provider of worksite day care. He started Tennessee’s Governor’s Schools for outstanding students and has authored seven books, including Six Months Off, the story of his family’s life in Australia after he was governor.
William J. Bennett is host of the nationally syndicated radio show Bill Bennett’s Morning in America, Washington Fellow of the Claremont Institute, and chairman and cofounder of the education company K12, Inc. He is also chairman of Americans for Victory over Terrorism, a project dedicated to sustaining and strengthening public opinion about the war on terrorism. He served as President Ronald Reagan’s chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and Secretary of Education, and President H. W. Bush’s “drug czar.” He has written and edited 16 books, including The Children's Book of Virtues and The Book of Virtues, which has been made into an animated series that airs on PBS in the United States and Great Britain. His most recent book is Why We Fight: Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism. He is also the cochairman of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
Rod Paige is a national policy fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a senior advisor for Westmark Systems, which specializes in high quality education programs for teachers and administrators. Appointed Secretary of Education by President George W. Bush, he was the first school superintendent to serve in that position, and was a driving force behind the enactment and implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. Mr. Paige began his career as a teacher and coach, then dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern University. There he established the university’s Center for Excellence in Urban Education. Elected to the board of education of the Houston Independent School District in 1989, he was a trustee and an officer until 1994, when he became superintendent. In 2001, he was named National Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators.
Andrew Rotherham is cofounder and codirector of Education Sector, a national education policy think tank, and senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. In addition, he serves on the Virginia Board of Education, a position he was appointed to by Governor Mark Warner. Previously, Mr. Rotherham served at The White House as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the Clinton Administration. He has authored numerous articles and papers about education and coedited three books on educational policy. He serves on advisory boards and committees for several organizations, including the American Academy for Liberal Education, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Broad Foundation, the National Governors Association, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, and the NewSchools Venture Fund. He is also a trustee of the Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School for Public Policy, a member of the board of directors for the Charter School Leadership Council, and chairman of the board of directors for the National Council on Teacher Quality.
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