Dr. John E. Deasy is the recently retired President of the Bezos Family Foundation. Prior to this leadership position, he was superintendent of Stockton Unified School District in California. During his tenure he oversaw a massive upgrade of new curriculum, technology for all youth, counselors and mental health clinicians in all schools, championed homeless issues and saw strong improvement in all youth indicators of success.

He was the Board Chair and former CEO of Reset: New Day, New Year, an alternative prison for young men 18-25 in the Bay Area of California. He was the founding Editor-In-Chief of The Line, a magazine dedicated to civil discourse in dealing with the most pressing matters for those on the front lines of social justice, entrepreneurship, and education. John also serves at a Superintendent In Residence for the Broad Center and facilitates work in the Broad Academy while coaching a number of current and emerging national education leaders. John also maintains a management consulting practice and has been active on a number of boards including College Summit, UnboundED, and TeacherCraft. John is an Aspen Fellow from the inaugural cohort of the Aspen Institute’s fellowship of entrepreneurs in education and is a senior moderator for the Institute.

John earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Providence College and a Doctorate form The University of Louisville in Kentucky. John has taught at numerous universities and speaks frequently at State and national events and conferences. John led dramatic improvements in each school district that he served as superintendent, propelling student achievement, high school graduation rates, and access rates to high quality courses and schools to historic levels, while simultaneously reducing suspension and drop out rates. Dr. Deasy was superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, where he championed a “youth first” agenda credited with reversing the district’s school-to-prison pipeline, raising achievement and helping more students graduate ready for college and the workplace than at anytime in the District’s history. John also served as superintendent in Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District in California, and Coventry Public Schools in Rhode Island. Dr. Deasy was also former State superintendent of the year, high school principal, and teacher.

John is a visionary leader and a highly successful executive and coach for new executives. He leads with integrity and strong moral character He relentlessly pushes against the status quo in service to all youth, but especially those who live in circumstances of poverty and those who have been historically marginalized. John has a noted and remarkable ability to make connections with youth and families and communities of color while driving results and building strategies for long term improvement. He is unapologetic in his pursuit of equity and justice for all students.