David Croom
David has expertise and interest spanning various realms in higher education, including federal policy, student engagement, adult learner populations, and related pathways. He recently joined JP Morgan Chase & Co. in their Jobs & Skills program, which is responsible for setting the firm’s goals and approach to expanding economic opportunity and career pathways, and making national-level philanthropic investments to execute this approach. Prior, David was the director for postsecondary success for parents with Ascend at the Aspen Institute, where he lead the Postsecondary Success for Parents (PSP) Initiative. The PSP Initiative urged postsecondary leaders to identify and meet the needs of student parents and their families, by connecting with policymakers to strengthen political will among states and regions, and bringing innovative family-support models to the forefront.
Before working with Ascend, David has held various roles, including HBCU Lead and Higher Education Designer at Education Design Lab; strategy officer in Lumina Foundation’s Washington, D.C. office, where he focused on the Foundation’s work to advance federal policy and pursue issues pertaining to postsecondary finance; and a policy analyst focused on federal postsecondary education in ACT’s office of strategic initiatives. His first foray into federal policy was as congressional aide to Congresswoman Maxine Waters, tasked with the member’s education portfolio with a specific emphasis on regulation of for-profit higher education. David currently serves on the board of Raise The Barr and as board chair of Swipe Out Hunger.
Native to South Florida, but now a resident of Washington, D.C., David holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, in addition to his bachelor’s degree from MIT’s Sloan School of Management with a minor in political science.