Cyrus Driver

Cyrus Driver (he/him) has led the Partnership for the Future of Learning since its launch in 2015. The Partnership has grown to be a robust network of 800 educational leaders and funders from 300 organizations across the country, with the goal of strengthening and remodeling public education so that it remains a vibrant, equitable and democratic public institution. Prior to leading the Partnership in its current home at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Cyrus launched this network at the National Public Education Support Fund (NPESF) as their Senior Director. In this role, he also helped to grow NPESF's funder collaborative strategies, and served as Interim Executive Director in 2019.

From 2012-2015, Cyrus was Vice-President for Strategy at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, launching this $1B+ regional community foundation's efforts to become a pro-active, visible leader on issues of regional inequality. Cyrus also worked at the Ford Foundation from 1998-2011, first as an education Program Officer and Deputy Director designing and implementing many of the foundation's K-12 and community college strategies, and later working as Ford's Director of Program Learning. Cyrus studied the economics of organizations and educational systems during the 1990’s at Stanford and UC Berkeley while also consulting with large school districts in the San Francisco Bay Area on their efforts to improve teaching quality.

Cyrus’s career began in the early 1980's as a community organizer, adult educator, and coalition-builder, including progressive leadership at Designs For Change in Chicago (1985-1991), a key educational advocacy organization of that era that catalyzed historic, democratic governance in each and every Chicago public school led by elected parents, community leaders and educators. Cyrus holds a Ph.D. in the economics of education, and M.A. in economics, both from Stanford University, a Masters of Public Policy from UC Berkeley, and a B.A. in Behavioral Science from the University of Chicago.