Josh Skolnick
Contact: Alex Lyda;
alyda@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — June 30, 2021
(DALLAS) — Dallas College has named Josh Skolnick as the next executive director of the Dallas College Foundation.
Skolnick joins Dallas College from Bloomberg Philanthropies, where he led the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, a yearlong leadership program for mayors from around the world. He also played an instrumental role in the design and development of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University.
“Dallas College is poised to take a leading role in educating the next generation of Texans entering the workforce at a time when the demand for skilled professionals is rapidly rising,” said Skolnick. “For too long, economic opportunity has not been equally distributed, and I am thrilled to join Dallas College Foundation and help close that gap for thousands of North Texans.”
Most recently during the pandemic, Skolnick designed and managed Bloomberg Philanthropies COVID-19 Local Response Initiative Virtual Sessions — weekly sessions for hundreds of mayors in which luminaries such as Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama, as well as other national leaders, joined faculty from Harvard and Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health to offer public health briefings and crisis leadership trainings.
Prior to his time at Bloomberg Philanthropies, Josh served at the U.S. Department of Education as deputy director of strategic partnerships in the Office of the Secretary. There, he led the launch of the Success Mentors Program, a chronic absenteeism reduction effort in 30 school districts around the country, as part of President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative.
Before serving in the federal government, Josh worked at the New York State Education Department and the New York City Department of Education to advance education innovation initiatives. A New York native, Skolnick holds a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
“We are thrilled to welcome Josh in his new role, particularly at a time when business and philanthropy are beginning to return to normal operations post-pandemic,” said Dr. Pyeper Wilkins, Dallas College’s vice chancellor of workforce and advancement. “We look forward to the opportunity to work even more closely with our board, college leadership and community partners to make a lasting impact on Dallas College students and the county as a whole.”
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