Stephen Cockrell

Chief Executive Officer

Stephen is the Chief Executive Officer of the Fund for Public Schools. He joined the Fund as Chief Strategy Officer in 2020, and was appointed Interim Acting Chief Executive Officer in 2022.  Stephen plays a key strategic leadership role, leading efforts to leverage the City’s rich ecosystem of education and philanthropic partners to support the educational experience for our City’s one million students. At the Fund, Stephen has helped build public-private partnerships to support key NYC Public Schools initiatives including raising over $15 million to support Summer Rising, Imagine NYC and Student Pathways.

Stephen brings more than a decade of experience leveraging partnerships and innovation to advance equity and improve educational outcomes. Prior to joining the Fund, Stephen served as Chief Executive Officer of The 74 Media, expanding the organization to additional media markets and increasing its elevation of diverse voices and perspectives.

Prior to The 74, Stephen served as Director of External Impact at KIPP Foundation, launching the KIPP Alumni Leadership Accelerator which aims to put 1,000 KIPP alumni in positions of leadership and influence nationally by 2040. Prior to KIPP, Stephen served as Education Director for the Woodlawn Foundation in Birmingham, AL and as Operations Counsel for the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Stephen received his bachelor's degree from Yale College and his law degree from Columbia University.