Look who's running the Broad Foundation

Bruce Reed

One of the characteristics of the Ownership Society is the fluid movement of key personnel back and forth between government and corporations. Carry this over into the world of ed reform and what's been called the education/industrial complex and you find similar movement between government, and power philanthropy.

The latest example has Bruce Reed, assistant to President Barack Obama and chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, being named president of the Broad Foundation, one of the big 3 in power philanthropy, along with Gates and Walton. According to a Broad Foundation release:

As the foundation's first president, Reed, 53, will oversee the activities and investments of The Broad Foundation's work to improve America's public schools. Founder Eli Broad will become chairman of the foundation.

Reed also has strong ties to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and co-authored with then-U.S. Rep. Emanuel, "The Plan: Big Ideas for Change in America."

Since 1999, The Broad Foundation has "invested" more than $580 million in corporate-style school reform, focusing on the spread of privately-run charter schools and the training and insertion of many big urban district school superintendents.

Eli Broad is a powerful, politically-connected Los Angeles-based billionaire who was recently exposed for secretly funding a right-wing, anti-union group connected with the Koch Bros. He formerly helped run the failed giant AIG Corp., once the world's biggest insurer, into the ground.