William D. “Bill” Hansen has more than 30 years of experience in education at the kindergarten-12th grade and postsecondary levels. As Strada Education NetworkSM CEO, Hansen oversees a nonprofit organization that promotes Completion With a Purpose®, helping all students build a more purposeful path from postsecondary education to achieve rewarding careers and fulfilling lives.
Strada Education is building on its previous 56 years as USA Funds®, which supported $250 billion in financing to help more than 22 million students and parents pay for college.
Prior to assuming his current role, in July 2013, he worked for 15 years in the public sector and 20 years in the corporate and nonprofit sectors.
Hansen is recognized as a national leader in the education sector. He served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education from 2001-2003, acting as the department’s chief operating officer and managing 5,000 employees and a $100 billion annual budget. He played a key role in developing and implementing landmark legislation that enhanced accountability in education and helped the Education Department earn its first-ever independent clean financial audit. Previously at the Education Department, he had served as assistant secretary for management and budget and chief financial officer and in other key leadership positions.
Hansen’s previous private sector experience includes service as president and chairman of Scantron Corp. and Global Scholar, providers of assessment and survey solutions to education, commercial and government organizations internationally. He also co-founded, with former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, an education-related consulting firm.
Additionally, he was senior vice president and managing director of the state and local solutions education services business for Affiliated Computer Services, a Fortune 500 company. Hansen also was president of the Education Finance Council, a trade association representing state-based student loan finance organizations.
He was a member of four state education commissions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, helping improve education and workforce opportunities for students. He also was appointed as a commissioner on the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education. Hansen served as an advisory board member for the University of Virginia Curry School of Education and Southern Virginia University. He served on the boards of nonprofit organizations including The Education Sector, Reading Is Fundamental, the National Guard Youth Foundation and ThanksUSA.
Hansen currently serves on the board of the Forum for the Future of Higher Education, which hosts the Aspen Symposium. He also is on the boards of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, the National Urban League, Million Meal Movement (formerly Kids Against Hunger), United Way of Central Indiana, and the George W. Romney Institute of Public Management at Brigham Young University.
A graduate of George Mason University in Virginia, Hansen also attended Idaho State University, which recognized him as a distinguished alumnus in 2003.
