Ralph Smith serves as Founding Managing Director of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, a network of more than 350+ communities, representing 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada — with 5,200 local organizations, and more than 500 state and local funders (including over 200 United Ways).
Previously, as Executive Vice President for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Smith led the Making Connections initiative, a comprehensive effort to improve outcomes for children by strengthening families and neighborhoods. Smith served on the Foundation’s Senior Leadership Team from 1994 through 2016.
Smith taught Corporations and Securities Law and Education Law and Policy as a member of the Law Faculty at the University of Pennsylvania for two decades. He also served as Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer for the School District of Philadelphia and as a senior advisor to Philadelphia’s mayor on children and family policy. Smith led efforts to design and implement the school district’s landmark voluntary desegregation plan, negotiate some of the nation’s first education reform-driven teacher contracts, and develop Children Achieving, a district-wide blueprint supported by the Annenberg Challenge.
Smith is the founding director of both the National Center on Fathers and Families and the Philadelphia Children’s Network, and he has served on governing and/or advisory boards of numerous other nonprofit, for-profit, and philanthropic entities. Among Smith’s favorite honors are the Champion of Children Award (Foundations, Inc.), GlobalMindED Inclusive Leader Award (GlobalMindED), the Jane Addams Distinguished Leadership Award (United Neighborhood Centers of America), and Fred Rogers Leadership in Philanthropy Award (Grantmakers for Children, Youth, and Family).