New CEO Appointed for WA STEM
The Board of Directors of Washington STEM announced today the appointment of one of Washington STEM’s founders, Caroline King, as Chief Executive Officer.
As Chief Executive Officer, Caroline will lead Washington STEM’s program, policy, and partnerships efforts to advance equity, excellence, and innovation in STEM education.
Caroline has over 20 years of experience advancing strategies that allow young people to access economic opportunity through education. In addition to leading Washington STEM through its incubation period in 2011, Caroline has served as Washington STEM’s Chief Policy and Strategy Officer for seven years. Caroline has also served as Executive Director of the Partnership for Learning and as a founding member of Harvard’s Public Education Leadership Project.
“Caroline comes to the CEO position as someone simultaneously grounded in the history of Washington STEM and ready to embrace new ways of engagement and opportunity as we continue to advance STEM education,” said Mike Delaney, Board Chair of Washington STEM and Vice President and General Manager of Airplane Development at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
In the past six years, Washington STEM has led the establishment of statewide STEM goals, supported the passage of significant STEM legislation, established public-private partnerships investing in STEM education, and identified, grown, and scaled key programs and policies across computer science, career connected learning, science and engineering, and early math.
Caroline will build on this strong foundation to link Washington STEM, its ten regional STEM Networks, and government, education, and community partners to ensure that every young person in Washington is “future ready” – prepared with the skills needed to thrive in today’s jobs and create and excel in the unknown jobs of tomorrow.
Caroline’s first task is already underway as she works with the state Legislature to advocate for state investments in computer science education and career connected learning. These investments would mean over 50 percent of students would have access to state-funded computer science education, over 50,000 students would have access to career connected learning opportunities like youth apprenticeships, internships, and career exploration days, and state dollars would go further with a 1:1 public/private match.
“A strong STEM education provides a gateway to opportunity for Washington students whether they go into agriculture or aerospace engineering,“ said Caroline King. “I am honored to lead Washington STEM. I look forward to collaborating with our partners across the state to ensure every young person has access to a high-quality STEM education that fosters economic opportunity and inspires community engagement.”
Caroline serves as a gubernatorial appointee to Washington State’s STEM Education Innovation Alliance and a Washington MESA board member. In 2012, the Puget Sound Business Journal recognized Caroline as a 40 Under 40 Honoree.
###
Washington STEM is a statewide nonprofit advancing excellence, equity, and innovation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. For more information, go to www.washingtonstem.org.
