VICKI PHILLIPS

Chief Education Officer National Geographic Society

Vicki Phillips has dedicated her life to advancing the value and access to education for students of all backgrounds and is now serving as the Chief Education Officer of the National Geographic Society.

Born in Falls of Rough, Kentucky, Phillips always had a passion for education. Despite her success in the classroom from a young age, she was not encouraged to pursue education after high school. Growing up on a farm in Breckinridge County, the thought of getting a degree away from her home was viewed almost as a betrayal of her roots and family. Additionally, she didn’t have easy access to higher education because of her family’s financial situation. 

Despite these unfortunate realities, she still focused on her studies. Because of her success and her unrelenting drive to collaborate with her peers, she became friends with someone from an affluent family. Because of her friend’s encouragement Phillips graduated near the top of her high school class and decided to leave the farm and enroll in Western Kentucky University. where she received a BA in Elementary Education and an MA in School Psychology. After completing these degrees, she moved out of the state and eventually earned a doctorate in Education from the University of Lincoln in England.

Since she finished her academic training, Phillips has committed her life to promoting education. She first served as a teacher in Simpson County, Kentucky, which eventually led to the opportunity for senior executive positions in the Kentucky Department of Education. Phillips helped draft and execute the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990, serving first as Special Assistant to the Deputy Director of the Kentucky Bureau of Instruction and then as Chief Executive Assistant to Kentucky’s Commissioner of Education.

After working as a teacher and in these KY governmental roles, Phillips  went on to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for eight years as the director of education strategy and grantmaking. Also during her career she was the Superintendent of Schools in Lancaster, Pa., Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Superintendent of Portland (Ore.) Public Schools.

She continues to support educational initiatives across the world and “oversees the National Geographic Society’s education strategy and programs focused on transforming the classroom experience for millions of students and educators to inspire the next generation of planetary stewards.”

She told Kentucky to the World that with her upbringing and her education, she developed an ethos that promotes her vision that “all children deserve to follow their dreams and passions, to set and meet high expectations, and to travel where their spirits lead them,”. Because we are one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Phillips advocates for every child in the United States to have access to a pragmatic, high-quality education.

In 2019, Kentucky to the World hosted Vicki Phillips Live -- Public Education: Unbridled or Unraveling? The on-stage conversation between Phillips and Ambassador Matthew Barzun focused on the future of education in Kentucky and across the country.