Ralph Smith

Ralph Smith is the founding managing director of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, an effort to increase rates of third-grade reading proficiency for children from low-income families, including a network of more than 350 communities — with 5,200 local organizations and institutions, including more than 510 state and local funders. Previously, as senior vice president for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Smith led initiatives to help communities improve child outcomes by strengthening families and neighborhoods.

Smith taught Corporations and Securities Law and Education Law and Policy as a tenured member of the law faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. He also served as chief of staff and special counsel for the School District of Philadelphia and as a senior advisor to Philadelphia’s mayor. Smith led efforts to design and implement the school district’s landmark voluntary desegregation plan; negotiate some of the nation’s first education reform-driven teacher contracts; and develop Children Achieving, a districtwide blueprint supported by the Annenberg Challenge. Over the last three decades, Smith has served on the boards of the major philanthropic associations and a dozen-plus social sector organizations. His private sector board service includes BookNook, EPS Learning, Geisel-Seuss Enterprises, Leapfrog Enterprises, Nobel Learning and Stride K-12.