Jamie Merisotis, an internationally recognized leader in higher education, human work, philanthropy, and public policy, has been Lumina Foundation’s president and CEO since 2008.
Frequently sought as a media commentator and contributor, his writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Washington Monthly, Politico, The Hill, Roll Call, and other publications. He is also a regular Forbes contributor.
Previously, Merisotis was president of the nonpartisan, D.C.-based Institute for Higher Education Policy, which he co-founded. He was also the executive director of a bipartisan national commission, appointed by the president and congressional leaders, to study college affordability. Merisotis is the author of America Needs Talent, named a Booklist Top 10 Business book of 2016, and Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines, an Amazon bestseller released in 2020.
Merisotis is an experienced board leader. He is a governor and member of the Council of Management of The Ditchley Foundation in the UK, and serves as a board member and advisor to the CEOs of Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP), Citizens Energy Group, and LifeHikes. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Future Skills Alliance and a member of the Commission on AI and the Future of the American Workforce, a bipartisan joint initiative by the American Enterprise Institute and the Urban Institute. Merisotis also advises companies that rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning to address complex challenges related to work and learning.
He served on the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on the American Workforce, which issued its national talent strategy blueprint in 2026. Merisotis is past chairman and trustee emeritus of the Council on Foundations, and past chairman and investment committee chair of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
A distinguished graduate and trustee emeritus of Bates College, he has been awarded honorary degrees from colleges and universities worldwide.
Articles by Jamie
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