Benno C. Schmidt
Jr. Co-Chair Whittle School & Studios Global Advisory Board

Benno Schmidt is among the world’s leading innovators in primary, secondary, and tertiary education. He was the 20th President of Yale University, the Dean of the Columbia Law School, and the Harlan Fiske Stone Professor of Constitutional Law at Columbia. In 1992 he moved into the K12 sector as President of Edison Schools, then Chairman of Avenues: The World School. A noted scholar of the First Amendment, the history of the United States Supreme Court and the history of race relations in American law, Benno clerked for Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court immediately after his graduation from Yale Law School. During his tenure at Yale the University’s endowment had the highest growth rate of all private universities. Benno led one of the largest building programs in Yale's history, fashioned a model partnership between the university and the city of New Haven, and launched interdisciplinary programs in environmental sciences and international studies. In 1998, Schmidt was appointed Chair of a task force to evaluate systemic issues at City University of New York, the largest urban public university in the world and the third largest public university system in the United States, and wrote a widely praised report that has been the blueprint for CUNY’s renaissance. He then served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York from 1999-2016. Benno also served as chairman of the not-for-profit Council on Aid to Education, which provides assessment and strategic planning services to colleges and universities in the United States and around the world. Benno holds a BA and JD from Yale University.