ACT Board of Directors

Richard L. Ferguson
CEO and Chairman of the Board
ACT

Richard L. Ferguson is chief executive officer and chairman of the board of ACT, Inc. Ferguson, who joined ACT in 1972, became president in 1988 after holding various positions, including director of test development, vice president of research and development, and executive vice president. He also holds an adjunct position in the Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations in The University of Iowa College of Education. Before joining ACT, he was a research associate and a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh.

During Ferguson’s years at ACT, the organization has grown from approximately 100 staff and a single program to more than 1,000 staff and nearly 100 programs and services. Among these, the ACT Assessment^® remains the largest, annually testing nearly 1.9 million high school students. The ASSET^® and COMPASS^® programs, designed specifically for community colleges, reached another 1.8 million students last year. Under his leadership, ACT is currently engaged in an extensive development agenda aimed at enabling ACT to enhance its mission—providing information for life’s transitions.

Ferguson earned a doctorate in educational research at the University of Pittsburgh in 1969, a B.S. in mathematics at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and an M.A. in mathematics at Western Michigan University. He began his career as a high school mathematics teacher in the Wilkinsburg and Mt. Lebanon school districts in Pennsylvania.

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