National education and civil society leader Daniel R. Porterfield named incoming CEO of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

Porterfield—the current president and CEO of the Aspen Institute and a former president of Franklin & Marshall College—will begin his leadership of the Foundation in July 2026, succeeding current executive director Giuseppe "Seppy" Basili

LANSDOWNE, Va., Feb. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is pleased to announce that Daniel R. Porterfield, president and chief executive officer of the Aspen Institute—a global leadership and convening organization founded in 1949—will join the Foundation as CEO, effective this July. He succeeds Giuseppe "Seppy" Basili, the Foundation's executive director, who will retire in June.

Porterfield, who will continue as president and CEO of the Aspen Institute through June 2026, will assume the top role at a pivotal moment for the Foundation, which recently marked the milestone of 25 years of expanding opportunity for exceptionally promising students with financial need. 

In a statement on behalf of his fellow Board members, Cooke Foundation Board Chair Howard B. Soloway said, "Dan is a visionary leader who brings a rare combination of commitment to educational opportunity and ability to drive strategic and innovative impact. At this defining moment in higher education, we are confident that he is the right leader to guide our next chapter and propel the Foundation forward as we continue to invest in the promise of high-achieving students across the country."

Soloway added that the Foundation Board is grateful to Basili for his dedicated service. "We extend our deepest thanks to Seppy for his extraordinary leadership over the past eight years, and for positioning the Foundation for continued success in its next 25 years." 

Since its founding, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has awarded $332 million in scholarships to nearly 3,900 students, providing not only financial support but also comprehensive educational advising, career counseling, and enrichment opportunities. In addition, the Foundation has invested $144 million in grants to organizations working to expand access for high-achieving students with financial need. Through this sustained commitment, the Foundation has emerged as one of the nation's leading voices in advancing opportunity in education.

"The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has long stood for possibility, opening doors, nurturing talent, and affirming that brilliance exists in every community," said Porterfield. "I believe deeply in this mission, and am honored to step into this role and to continue the Foundation's joint commitment to both investing in thousands of highly promising students and seeking to deepen quality and expand opportunity across American education at large." 

Porterfield brings to this legacy decades of leadership at the intersection of education, opportunity, and civil society. At the Aspen Institute, he expanded the organization's reach and impact in numerous ways. Under Porterfield, the Institute approved a new and ambitious strategic plan, launched and has already raised more than $300 million toward a historic $450 million campaign, and significantly grew its programmatic work. During his tenure, the Institute has nearly doubled its annual revenue and tripled its endowment, energized and expanded flagship Aspen Ideas events, and launched major initiatives—perhaps most notably, the 2024 creation of the Center for Rising Generations at the Aspen Institute under the leadership of former DC Public Schools chancellor Kaya Henderson. The Center develops the leadership of youth and young adults, powered by a $185.7 million endowment gift from the Bezos Family Foundation—the largest gift in the Institute's history.

"Dan's leadership at the Aspen Institute has been defined by his belief in the power of dialogue and ideas to shape a better world, and by his deep commitment to expanding opportunity through education," said Margot Pritzker, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Institute. "We are thrilled to see Dan take on this next chapter as CEO of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. While we will miss his leadership at the Aspen Institute, we celebrate this moment and know that his vision, integrity, and ability to translate values into impact make him exceptionally well-suited to lead an organization that has transformed the lives of so many talented young people."

Prior to the Aspen Institute, Porterfield was president of Franklin & Marshall College. There, he led efforts to strengthen academic excellence, increase access for students from underrepresented and low-income backgrounds, and position the institution for long-term success. Earlier in his career, Porterfield served as senior vice president for strategic development at Georgetown University, where he expanded pathways to higher education through strategic partnerships with organizations such as Teach For America, the KIPP Foundation, DC Public Schools, and the Cristo Rey Network. In this role, he strengthened Georgetown's engagement with K–12 educators and national access networks, advancing a model of collaboration designed to identify and support talented students from historically underserved communities.

"As a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar who was taught and mentored by Dan Porterfield as an undergraduate, I experienced firsthand his unwavering belief in students and in education as a force for expanding opportunity," said Benjamin Cote, partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, 2005 Georgetown University graduate, and Cooke Scholar Alum. "Dan has spent his life and career identifying talent wherever it exists and building institutions that help people with promise fully realize their potential—like the Cooke Foundation's motto—to 'Think Big, Work Hard, and Achieve.' I can think of no one better to lead the Foundation's next chapter of service and impact."

As president of Franklin & Marshall, Porterfield built on the approach he pursued at Georgetown. Under his leadership, the College strengthened its academic excellence and competitiveness by tripling its percentage of incoming low-income students. To achieve this progress, Porterfield forged partnerships with organizations such as the Posse Foundation, Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, Noble Schools, College Match, College Track, and the College Advising Corps. These efforts helped to galvanize the creation of a national project of the Aspen Institute's College Excellence Program, the American Talent Initiative (ATI). Funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the ATI has, since 2016, helped more than 130 top colleges and universities increase their enrollment of Pell Grant-eligible students by more than 70,000 collectively.

Porterfield was recently elected as the incoming Chair of the National Board of Directors of Teach For America and is a trustee of Colorado College. He is also a former trustee of the College Board and the Cristo Rey Network and served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Lenfest College Scholarship Foundation. He was named a White House Champion of Change for College Opportunity in 2016 and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations. Porterfield also recently authored the book "Mindset Matters: The Power of College to Activate Lifelong Growth," which explores how colleges can best activate growth mindsets for their students to help them achieve long-term success.

These experiences reflect the values that have guided Porterfield throughout his career: an unwavering belief in the transformative power of education, and in institutions' responsibility to identify and nurture talent wherever it exists. Those commitments closely align with the Cooke Foundation's mission and the vibrant community of Scholars and partners it has fostered. Across roles and institutions, his work has consistently focused on expanding pathways to opportunity, supporting student success, and strengthening the broader higher education ecosystem.

Under Porterfield's leadership, he and the dedicated team at the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation will build on its legacy and launch its next quarter-century of impact.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Since 2000, the Foundation has awarded $332 million in scholarships to nearly 3,900 students from 8th grade through graduate school, along with comprehensive educational advising, career counseling, and other support services. The Foundation has also provided $144 million in grants to organizations that serve such students. For more information, visit www.jkcf.org.

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SOURCE Jack Kent Cooke Foundation