Frank Gettridge, Board Member

Executive Director, National Public Education Support Fund

Frank L. Gettridge is the President and CEO of the National Public Education Support Fund. NPESF is an organization driven by values of equity through a vision of unity supporting philanthropic networks to advance equitable and racially just policies and systems. NPESF is home to a growing number of funders learning communities and collaboratives that includes the Education Funder Strategy Group (EFSG), the Partnership for the Future of Learning (the Partnership), Grantmakers for Thriving Youth (GTY), Data Funders Collaborative (DFC), and the Global Science of Learning in Education Network (GSoLEN), and formerly the Nerd Herd (which now operates independently of NPESF).

Frank is an educator who has dedicated his career working to improving the lives of the most vulnerable children and families. A New Orleans native, Frank possesses over 30 years of experience in education, with impressive time and variety as an early childhood teacher and administrator, and an elementary and high school teacher and administrator.

Prior to NPESF, Frank was a program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation where he oversaw the integration of national program strategies and managed a team of officers and support staff to support the Foundation’s efforts to address issues of inequality, including creating the conditions that help vulnerable children to achieve. Frank elevated investments focusing on strengthening the teacher-of-color pipeline, transformative family engagement, and closing the 3rd-grade achievement gap.

Earlier in his career, Frank was a dedicated elementary school principal in the Chicago Public Schools. In 2013 when the City of Chicago attempted one of the largest school closing plans in this country’s history, it was Frank’s leadership and collaboration with the local community and organizations that lead to the successful removal of Clara Barton from the closure list.

Frank holds a doctorate of global education from the University of Southern California, during which time he studied public education systems across three different countries. He holds a master’s degree in child development from the Erikson Institute in Chicago, IL, and a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Morris Brown College in Atlanta, GA. Frank is also an Adjunct Professor for the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education – Global Executive Doctor of Education Programs. Notably, Frank was also selected as a National Head Start Fellow, an Association of Black Foundation Executive’s Fellow, a Children’s Defense Fund Fellow, and served as a National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Governing Board member.