About the Founders

Angelina Jolie

Co-Chair, Jolie-Pitt Foundation
Co-Chair, Education Partnership for Children of Conflict

Ms. Angelina Jolie is an Oscar Award-winning actress, who has served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since August 2001. In her 7 years in that capacity, Ms. Jolie has taken over 30 trips to conflict-affected areas and developing nations, including Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Colombia, and Sudan, to promote humanitarian causes and raise awareness around the key challenges faced by refugees and internally displaced persons throughout the world. She recently completed a trip to Iraq in February 2008. She also serves as Co-Chair of the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, to promote education for children in conflict, post-conflict, refugee, and emergency settings.

Ms. Jolie has received wide recognition for her humanitarian work, receiving the UN Correspondents Association Citizen of the World Award (2003), UNA-USA’s Global Humanitarian Award (2005), and the International Rescue Committee’s Freedom Award (2007).

Gene Sperling

Director, Center for Universal Education,
Council on Foreign Relations;
Co-Chair, Education Partnership for Children of Conflict

Mr. Gene Sperling is Director of the Center for Universal Education at the Council on Foreign Relations, Co-Chair of the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict and U.S. Chair of the Global Campaign for Education. Previously, Mr. Sperling served as National Economic Advisor to President Clinton from 1997-2001, and led the US delegation to the 2000 UN World Education Forum in Dakar.

Mr. Sperling is also the Working Group Chair of the Education Track for the Clinton Global Initiative and a member of the FTI Fragile States Task Team and the INEE Working Group on Education and Fragility.

He co-authored the Council on Foreign Relations special report What Works in Girls' Education: Evidence and Policies from the Developing World and has authored two recent reports on education for children of conflict, Closing Trust Gaps: Unlocking Financing for Education in Fragile States and Toward a New Global Aid Architecture for Education: Broadening Ownership, Covering Children of Conflict and Closing the Financing Gap.