Jane Swift, former governor of Massachusetts, is the president of Education at Work, the premier work-based learning nonprofit in the country serving higher education. Swift has served in leadership roles in the public, private, political, and nonprofit sectors for more than three decades and is fueled by a passionate belief in the power of education to transform lives.

Education at Work, a part of Strada Collaborative, creates opportunity for college students through authentic work experiences delivered via industry-education partnerships. Students in Education at Work programs achieve financial stability and structured learning opportunities and attain skills to land a quality first postgraduate job.

Swift began her career in public service as a Massachusetts state senator at the age of 25, the youngest woman to ever serve in that role. As a member of the Education Reform Conference Committee in 1993, she worked to ensure all students in Massachusetts public schools would have access to excellence in education, regardless of where they lived. As lieutenant governor and governor from 1999 to 2003, she oversaw many of the most controversial implementation items in the Education Reform Act of 1993 and took pride in Massachusetts being named a national model by the U.S. Department of Education in 2003. For many years, Massachusetts’ approach resulted in its students scoring at the highest level in math and English on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests, or “Our Nation’s Report Card.” In October 2023 Swift was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to serve on the National Assessment Governing Board as the National Governors Association’s Republican designee. NAGB oversees the NAEP tests and is widely recognized as the premier federal education governing board for excellence in K-12.

In 2022, after the death of her husband, Swift founded the nonprofit Cobble Hill Farm Education & Rescue Center on their family farm. She is a sought-after speaker on issues of education, working mothers, and women’s leadership, and, more recently, the topic of gratitude, grief, and loss. Swift earned national attention for the birth of her twins as the first governor in U.S. history to give birth while in office. She continues to proudly claim the title of working mother even as her three daughters, Elizabeth, and twins Lauren and Sarah, have graduated from college and are pursuing their careers with passion, integrity, and confidence. Swift is an avid sports fan with unquestioned Boston loyalties.