Raymond Pierce

About Raymond Pierce

Raymond C. Pierce serves as President of the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) where he is responsible for leading the 150 year old organization in their mission to advance policies and practices in support of education and education opportunity.Since joining SEF in 2018, Pierce has launched a region wide early childhood education network and established a federally funded technical assistance center to assist school districts at addressing education opportunity deficiencies. Pierce co-founded the Center for Outcomes Based Contracting at SEF which facilitates partnerships between education technology companies and school districts in the delivery of high quality educational services. Pierce led SEF\'s edtech investment in EdLight PBC where he serves as a Director. He is also an Advisor with OKO Labs. Pierce serves on the Advisory Board of the National Student Support Accelerator at Stanford University and is a past member of the North Carolina Banking Commission.Pierce served in the administration of President Bill Clinton as a Senior Executive at the U.S. Department of Education. He also worked with the White House Domestic Policy Council on economic and workforce development initiatives.Pierce has been the Dean of a law school and a partner at two national law firms where his practice focused on business transactions, business restructuring, financial institutions, and education policy matters. During that time he was also appointed Special Counsel for the Ohio State Teachers Retirement Fund. For seven years Pierce was employed by a Fortune 50 Aerospace, Steel and Energy company where he worked in the company\'s corporate law department. During that time he also led the company’s workforce development initiatives in collaboration with organized labor, local school districts and higher education. Pierce began his career as a civil rights attorney in Little Rock, Arkansas.Pierce earned a Bachelors degree from Syracuse University, a Juris Doctorate from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, a Masters degree from the Divinity School at Duke University and is currently enrolled in the Berkeley Leadership Program at Yale University Divinity School.

Experience

1. Advisor

   Oko Labs

   May 2024 — Present

Education

• Bradley University

  English Language and Literature, General

  1976 — 1978

• Case Western Reserve University School of Law

  Juris Doctor (J.D.), Law

  1980 — 1983

• Hawken School

  High School

  1974 — 1976

• Syracuse University

  Bachelor’s Degree, English Language and Literature, General

  1978 — 1980

• Duke Divinity School

  Master of Arts - MA, Theology/Theological Studies

  2016 — 2018

Skills

• Public Policy
• Civil Rights Law
• Political Consulting
• Politics
• Corporate Law
• Banking
• Government Relations
• Higher Education
• Legal Education
• Financial Services