Sameer Gadkaree has been the President and CEO of The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) since 2021. In that role, he has led TICAS’s efforts across the country to increase college affordability; to protect students and taxpayers from fraud, waste, and abuse; to protect students from injurious student debt; and to restore economic and racial equity to our higher education system. Under Sameer’s leadership, TICAS launched its new strategic plan, TICAS:Onward.
Prior to his work at TICAS, Sameer has served in senior roles in philanthropy, higher education, and has previous experience in the private sector. Sameer was previously a Senior Program Officer at the Joyce Foundation, where he led the philanthropy’s efforts on higher education. In that role, he invested in state and federal policy to improve racial and economic equity in higher education, including policies to support evidence-based college completion programs, efforts to expand college affordability, to curtail transcript withholding, and to foster greater student and civil rights advocacy. He also promoted efforts to expand anti-poverty supports and to support innovations in higher education, including then-nascent efforts to understand direct college admissions and the community college baccalaureate.
Sameer also served as an Associate Vice Chancellor at the City Colleges of Chicago, the system of seven community colleges that serves the City of Chicago. He led the Adult Education division, with a focus on helping adults who were learning English or getting their high school equivalency get access to college level coursework. He helped develop system-wide strategies to promote graduation and supported the institution’s efforts to foster effective labor-management interaction.
Early in his career, Sameer worked at Discovery Communications, the parent company of the Discovery Channel, and at McKinsey & Co.
He has authored numerous published opinion pieces, has appeared in national media outlets, including CBS News Prime Time with John Dickerson, and has been quoted by numerous national and higher education media publications. He has testified twice before the House Education and Workforce Committee.
