Jamie P. Merisotis is president and CEO of Lumina Foundation for Education, the nation's largest private foundation committed solely to enrolling and graduating more students from college.

Long a champion of the idea that higher education enhances both society and individuals, Merisotis has worked for decades to increase educational opportunity among low-income, minority and other historically underrepresented populations.

At Lumina, Merisotis is continuing that effort by employing a strategic, outcomesbased approach in pursuing the Foundation's mission of expanding college access and success. Under his leadership, Lumina has embraced an ambitious and specific goal: to ensure that, by 2025, 60 percent of Americans have high-quality two-year or four-year degrees – up from the current level of 40 percent. It is Merisotis' aim that all of Lumina's efforts and activities – grant making, communication, evaluation, policy advocacy and convening – work toward achieving that goal.

Merisotis is an expert on a wide range of higher education issues. He is well versed in domestic and international issues related to higher education access and success, including student financial aid, minority-serving colleges and universities, global higher education policy strategies, learning outcomes, and the social and economic benefits of higher education. He is recognized as an authority on college and university financing and has published major studies and reports on topics ranging from higher education rankings to technology-based learning.

Before joining Lumina Foundation in January 2008, Merisotis was founding president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Founded in Washington, D.C., in 1993, IHEP is an independent, nonpartisan organization regarded as one of the world's premier higher education research and policy centers. While at IHEP, Merisotis helped establish the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education, an unprecedented coalition of national associations whose members include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Merisotis also managed IHEP's global efforts to leverage the social and economic effects of higher education, especially in southern Africa, the former Soviet Union and other developing areas. Additionally, Merisotis oversaw the institute's work on college and university ranking systems, policy leadership development and other areas with cross-national implications. Prior to founding IHEP, Merisotis served as executive director of the National Commission on Responsibilities for Financing Postsecondary Education, a bipartisan commission appointed by the U.S. president and congressional leaders. He authored the commission's final report, Making College Affordable Again, and many of the commission's recommendations became national policy during the 1990s. Merisotis also helped create the Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps), serving as an adviser to senior management on issues related to the quality and effectiveness of national service initiatives.