Jon Schnur is the Chief Executive Officer of America Achieves — a national nonprofit organization that partners with local communities to create Good Jobs Economies across the country. Good Jobs Economies integrate economic growth with economic mobility by supporting local backbone organizations and coalitions focused on developing high-growth industries with specific regional ties, creating diverse talent pipelines that are prepared for high-demand careers and better reflect the diversity of local populations, and fostering public will and support.
Under Jon’s leadership, America Achieves has established a long track record of partnering with local leaders who are working to make their communities better places to live, learn, work, and raise a family. For the past decade, the organization has incubated effective and promising initiatives in education, workforce development, and economic development, convened dozens of foundations and organizations, and advanced federal and state policy priorities designed to impact economic mobility at scale. Over the years, America Achieves has developed and launched a series of new nonprofit organizations – including Accelerate, Merit America, Matriculate, CollegePoint, Results for America, GripTape, and others. Most recently, America Achieves helped to design, shape, and secure $2 billion in federal funding for a series of new federal programs and policies supporting place-based economic and workforce development. These initiatives have advanced through Congress with bipartisan support – moments of unity that are all too rare in today’s political landscape. Since 2022, America Achieves has supported 28 regional coalitions that applied for this funding, with a combined success rate more than 4 times greater than the national average.
Jon has extensive experience in nonprofit, government, and philanthropy. Since 2011, Jon has served as Bloomberg Philanthropies’ lead outside advisor on education and skills. He co-founded New Leaders for New Schools, a national nonprofit ensuring high academic achievement for every student by attracting and preparing outstanding school leaders. He served as its CEO from 2000 until 2011, and now sits on its board. Jon served as co-chair of education policy for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and then as a senior advisor to the presidential transition team and U.S. Secretary of Education. Jon previously served as an education advisor during the Clinton administration, as President Clinton’s Associate Director for Educational Policy, Senior Policy Advisor on Education to Vice President Gore, and Special Assistant to U.S. Secretary of Education Dick Riley. Jon has also served on the Visiting Committee to the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Aspen Institute’s Jury for their Prize for Community College Excellence, and as a member of the Markle Foundation’s Rework America Task Force.
Jon is a proud Wisconsinite and he, his wife Elisa, and their three children live in Montclair, New Jersey.
 jon.schnur@americaachieves.org |