Vincent Stewart serves as the Vice President for Policy and Programs and in this role oversees Children Now’s policy and research work and leads the organizational assessment of our programmatic efforts as measured by progress on key indicators aligned to our project goals. In addition, Mr. Stewart provides leadership for Children Now’s Education Team and for our education policy agenda, TK-12 through higher education. For nearly two decades, Mr. Stewart has been an advocate for public education, K-12 through post-secondary, and was appointed by both Governors Brown and Schwarzenegger to senior education policy positions.

Prior to joining Children Now, Mr. Stewart was the Vice Chancellor for External Relations for the California Community Colleges, the nation’s largest system of higher education. He managed both state and federal governmental relations, as well as strategic partnerships with philanthropic organizations. Mr. Stewart came to the Chancellor’s Office from The James Irvine Foundation, where he served as a Senior Program Officer with the Youth Program and managed a grant portfolio in excess of $13 million that was focused on the alignment of secondary and postsecondary education and preparing all students for both college and careers.

Mr. Stewart spent more than a decade advocating for the University of California, serving as Associate Director of Institutional Relations with the Office of the President, Director of Federal Government Relations for the UC Davis campus, and as a legislative advocate with the university’s system-wide office of State Governmental Relations. Mr. Stewart began his career in public education as a state and federal government relations representative for the California School Boards Association.

Mr. Stewart is a graduate of UC Davis, where he earned a baccalaureate degree with a double major in economics and political science.