Christopher Ruszkowski

Christopher N. Ruszkowski served as New Mexico's Secretary of Education under Governor Susana Martinez and as Delaware’s Associate Secretary of Education/Chief Talent Officer under Governor Jack Markell during a decade of unprecedented education reform.  He is currently Senior Fellow at three innovative organizations: Education Reformers Academy, Empat Speech and South Carolina Children's Fund.  He also currently serves as State Conservator for IDEA Public Schools--Texas.  Following his tenure as education secretary, he was appointed Distinguished Policy Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and Senior Advisor at Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy and Research.  He then served as CEO of Meeting Street-South Carolina's education portfolio during a time of unprecedented recovery, innovation, and expansion–guiding it through the pandemic, culture change, and its first-ever alumni heading to college (90%); all while launching a statewide scholarship fund, educator performance awards, and its first-ever charter schools.  “CR” is an alum of the Evans Scholarship, TNTP, Chiefs for Change, Teach For America and Education Pioneers.  

Ruzzkowski holds a BA from the University of Minnesota and an MA from Stanford's Graduate School of Education.  He began his career in Miami-Dade County as a social studies teacher in the Little Haiti community, where he was the region’s nominee for TFA’s national teaching excellence award.