Louis Soares
Director of the Postsecondary Education Program
Louis Soares is the Director of the Postsecondary Education program at American Progress. He manages the policy team's work on workforce training, community and four-year college education. Soares is a sought-after speaker and commentator on federal and state policy and is a contributor to CNBC, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Education.
Soares's research at the Center for American Progress includes community college reform, worker training, education and industry partnerships, career and education counseling, and technology-driven innovation in higher education. Soares's papers "Working Learners: Educating Our Entire Workforce for the 21st Century" and "Disrupting College: How Disruptive Innovation Can Bring Quality and Affordability to Postsecondary Education," are widely cited as redefining the policy debate in worker training and online education respectively. Soares was also appointed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to serve on the National Board of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education in November 2011.
Prior to joining American Progress, he served as director of business development in the administration of Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri where he managed Rhode Island’s policy incentives for workforce training, business attraction, export assistance, government contracting, and small business from 2003 to 2006. As director of education and training for the Rhode Island Technology Council from 2000 to 2002, Soares developed and managed a workforce training strategy for a 240-member trade association, which included implementing education-business partnerships at the high school, college, and corporate levels to align with relevant workplace skills. He also served as a small business consultant with the U.S. Peace Corps in Romania in 1995 and 1996.
Soares holds a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in business economics from Brown University. He lives with his wife, Elizabeth, and daughter, Maya, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Email: lsoares /@\ americanprogress.org
Articles by Louis Soares
- Dramatically Bringing Down the Cost of Education with OER, February 7, 2012
- Building a Technically Skilled Workforce, January 19, 2012
- The ‘Personalization’ of Higher Education , October 4, 2011
- Bringing Business Analytics to the College Campus, September 19, 2011
- Guiding Innovation in Higher Education, June 29, 2011
- Harming Our Workforce, Harming Our Nation, April 20, 2011
- Delivering Innovation Economy Skills While Wisely Using Public Funds, March 8, 2011
- Disrupting College, February 8, 2011
- The Social Life of College Information, December 3, 2010
- Degree Completion Beyond Institutional Borders, October 28, 2010
- The Power of the Education-Industry Partnership, October 4, 2010
- Gainful Employment Brings More Gainful Education, August 9, 2010
- Moving From Short-Term Jobs to Long-Term Skills, May 24, 2010
- Community College 2.0 , May 5, 2010
- A New National Approach to Career Navigation for Working Learners, March 11, 2010
- Putting the Customer First in College, November 2, 2009
- Working Learners Need Innovative Education Models, October 13, 2009
- Working Learners, June 22, 2009
- Work and Education Can Go Hand in Hand, April 13, 2009
- Innovation Is in the Details, March 31, 2009
- A Postsecondary Degree or Credential in Every Pot, February 26, 2009
- Making Students More College-Ready and Colleges More Student-Ready, October 8, 2008
- College-Ready Students, Student-Ready Colleges, August 12, 2008
- There’s More to College than Just Getting In, April 23, 2008
- Hollywood Ending: Union Wins an Employee Victory, February 13, 2008
- Stimulus that Works: Senate Correct to Focus on Unemployment Insurance, February 6, 2008
