Ian Rowe is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on upward mobility, family formation, and adoption.

Vertex Partnership Academies seeks to be the first-of-its-kind charter management organization and partnership network of exceptional, tuition-free International Baccalaureate (IB) public charter high schools that offer pathways to college completion and/or career development, and empowers its graduates to lead lives of meaning and purpose. Grounded in the four cardinal virtues of Courage, Justice, Temperance and Wisdom, the first Vertex Partnership Academies campus will open in the Bronx in 2022.

As CEO of Public Prep Network, I provide the strategic direction for the nonprofit organization that develops high-quality Pre-Kindergarten and single-sex elementary and middle public schools that pursue excellence through continuous learning and data-driven instruction. Our model is designed to empower each student to build strong character, demonstrate critical thinking, possess a core body of knowledge and be on a predictive path to earn a degree from a four-year university.

As part of the Gates Foundation PostSecondary Success Team, my goal was to: (1) understand the common traits in those of all races and income levels who had successfully navigated a path to college completion; and (2) make investments designed to dramatically increase the number of young people who obtain a postsecondary degree or certificate with labor-market value.

As MTV's Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Public Affairs, my job was to lead the network's efforts to use its “superpowers for good.” This meant to leverage the globe’s (then) most powerful youth media brand to mobilize tens of millions of young people to take action on the issues of most importance to their generation. There I helped develop global and domestic campaigns, such as “Get Schooled," which used the power of media and popular culture to motivate young people to graduate from high school and go to and succeed in college; and "Choose or Lose," which helped mobilize more than 24 million 18-29 year olds to vote in the 2008 Presidential election.

I was the Director of Strategy and Performance Measurement at The White House USA Freedom Corps office which formed after September 11th to encourage every American to make a lifetime commitment in service of others.