Iris Chen has served as President and CEO of the “I Have A Dream” Foundation since June 2007. Prior to this role, she served for four years as Teach For America’s New York City Executive Director, where she led a major expansion in the city and grew the local corps from 250 to 1,000 teachers. Previously, she worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Ms. Chen got her start in education as a charter corps member with Teach For America in New York City, where she taught fourth and fifth graders at P.S. 307 in Brooklyn. After completing the Coro Fellows Program in 1993-94, she joined Teach For America’s staff, serving as Director of Public Affairs and then Vice President of Programs, where from 1995-98 she led the recruitment, selection, training, and ongoing support of corps members nationwide.

Ms. Chen graduated from Yale University and earned her J.D./M.B.A. degree from Harvard University. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Achievement First-Bushwick Charter School, and on the advisory boards of Delaware Valley College, the William E. Macaulay Honors College at The City University of New York, Children For Children, New York Civil Rights Coalition, and Metro New York. She is also a member of the New York Bar.