Alumni Profile

 

 

 

“I was fortunate to be offered educational opportunities that were not common in the housing projects where I grew up in Birmingham, Ala, and I’ve always wanted to give back,” says Carmita Vaughan, an engineering undergraduate and a Kellogg M.B.A. who early in her career worked as an operations manager for Procter & Gamble.

 

After graduate school, Vaughan returned to the private sector, but then heard about The Broad Residency. “I felt like the stars had finally aligned. Many people spend years harboring a dream only to have it falter simply because they were never courageous enough to work toward it.”

 

Placed as a Broad Resident in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Vaughan attracted the attention of senior leadership by landing the district a $27.5 million competitive federal grant—its largest ever.

 

Vaughan soon took on a senior-level position as director of nine dropout prevention and recovery programs with a budget of $35 million. Working closely with former school district CEO Arne Duncan (pictured above), who now serves as U.S. secretary of education, she became chief of staff of high schools, where she restructured the roles of 42 employees to better align staff and resources.  

 

Vaughan has taken the lessons she learned at CPS and made the leap to national advocacy and awareness work as the chief strategy officer for America’s Promise Alliance. The Alliance, founded by retired Gen. Colin Powell, is a cross-sector partnership of more than 300 organizations focused on ensuring all students graduate from high school ready for college, work and life. Vaughan oversees all programmatic efforts, including the Grad Nation Campaign to help communities increase graduation rates.

 

Vaughan often reminds private sector professionals that their skills are not only applicable but also extremely necessary for improving school systems and ultimately impacting America’s future.

 

“The challenges in a district as large as Chicago or Philadelphia are actually 10 times greater than you face at a Procter & Gamble. You have the chance to work on what is clearly the largest civil rights issue of our time.”