Jane Swift

Jane Swift, former Massachusetts Governor, operating partner at the Vistria Group

Swift was the CEO of Middlebury Interactive Languages a joint venture forged from a powerful combination of Middlebury College and K12 Inc before the joint venture was ended. Swift serves on the boards of Sally Ride Science, and Suburban Propane (SPH). She is also on the Women’s Initiative External Advisory Council for Deloitte & Touche. Previously, Swift founded WNP Consulting, LLC, providing expert advice and guidance to early-stage education companies.

Swift speaks professionally on issues of leadership, work-family integration, and public education policy, and is an instructor in the Leadership Studies program at Williams College. From 2003 -2006, Swift was a General Partner at Arcadia Partners, the leading venture capital firm focused exclusively on the education industry.

Prior to joining Arcadia, Swift worked for fifteen years in government, beginning her career as an aide to a state legislator. In 1991 she was elected to the Massachusetts Senate, becoming the youngest woman to serve in that body. In 1998, she was elected Lieutenant Governor and in 2001 she became Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She was Massachusetts’ first female Governor and the first Governor in the country to give birth (to twin girls) while serving in office. During her tenure in public service, Swift focused on excellence in public education, economic development and fiscal discipline, and improvements to the state’s child protective services.

Swift continues to lend her assistance to political causes she holds dear, including the Republican Majority for Choice, the Republican Leadership Council, and Senator John McCain’s Presidential Campaign, for which she serves as an education adviser. She is a member of the not-for-profit board of Landmark Volunteers, and is active in her own community, serving as a board member on the Williamstown Elementary School Governance Council as well as the Community Outreach board for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams.

Swift is a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, has received six honorary doctorates, and has held fellowships at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and at Williams College. Swift resides on her family farm in Williamstown with her husband, Chuck Hunt, and their three daughters.

Follow her on Twitter @janemswift.