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Charles E. Smith Appointed Vice President, ACT Washington Office
Charles E. Smith has been appointed vice president and head of ACT’s Washington, DC, office. Smith joined ACT in August.
Charles E. Smith
The office facilitates relationships with Washington-based professional associations and government agencies and provides information to policymakers available through ACT’s extensive array of education and workforce assessment programs.
“Charles’ outstanding record of public service within educational institutions and government agencies makes him a perfect fit to ACT, given our mission of helping people achieve education and workforce success,” said Richard L. Ferguson, ACT CEO and chairman of the board. “The insights that he has acquired during his varied experience are sure to add positively to ACT’s work in the United States and around the world.”
Smith served on the ACT Board of Trustees from 1987 to 1993. He was chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee and a member of the Executive Committee.
“Having served as an ACT board member, I know firsthand the professional standards and quality leadership that have placed ACT on the cutting edge of educational and workforce assessment in our country,” said Smith. “I look forward to participating with ACT’s management team and staff to shape and expand the role of the Washington, DC, office in this time of unparalleled challenge and opportunity for the nation.”
Smith most recently served two three-year terms as executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board, an organization set up by Congress in 1988 to establish policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
He has served as chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents and as the Tennessee commissioner of education. He also was chancellor of two University of Tennessee campuses, vice president over two separate divisions of UT’s statewide university administration, and editor of both weekly and daily newspapers in Tennessee.
Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, and both his master’s degree in English and doctorate in higher education administration from the George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.
