Beverly Eaves Perdue

Background

About Beverly Eaves Perdue

Education innovation and reform are the hallmark of Bev Perdue’s career in public service and since leaving office, her efforts have been propelled by digital education, technology and innovation. Since leaving public office in 2013 her efforts, both professionally and through her work in establishing and supporting non-profits, have focused on improving opportunities by making classroom education more effective, making technology more broadly available and making policy managers more focused and responsive. Career & College: Ready, Set Go! and other initiatives she’s championed in her public life as governor, lieutenant governor and in seven terms as a state legislator, are emblematic of the innovative, comprehensive approach to keeping students on grade level, improving graduation rates and increasing the number of students seeking college degrees or career training after high school. Perdue was one of the first governors to adopt rigorous standards, and she was the first governor to direct all levels of the state’s schools, colleges and universities to adopt those standards. At the end of her tenure as governor, North Carolina’s graduation rate topped 80-percent for the first time. As governor, she was a transformative force in moving North Carolina’s classrooms into the 21st century by investing in innovative education technology and creating public-private partnerships to fully integrate that technology into the state’s education system. She created the statewide broadband education network for public schools, universities and community colleges. The partnership recognized as a national model because North Carolina school districts use six times the bandwidth while spending the same they did more than five years ago. She also led creation of the state’s first Virtual Public School. Perdue’s leadership legacy lives in the innovative education technology that has been spread statewide.