Engagement with Practice

Fernando Reimers maintains an active engagement with education policy and practice

through service on the governing and advisory boards of schools, universities,

international organizations, foundations, and educational networks.

Through these roles, he contributes to strategic planning, program development, institutional learning, leadership succession, and the design of initiatives that connect educational research with the needs of practitioners and communities.

His board service reflects a longstanding conviction that scholarship should inform practice—and that researchers, in turn, should learn from the experience of those leading educational institutions. These engagements have allowed him to collaborate with educators and institutional leaders working on global education, civic learning, teacher development, educational equity, higher education, international cooperation, and system reform.

Current Leadership and Advisory Roles

Reimers serves on the Governing Board of UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning, which supports countries in strengthening education policy, planning, management, and institutional capacity. He also serves on the governing board of the Global Institute of Teach For All, contributing to a worldwide network committed to expanding educational opportunity and strengthening leadership in education.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of Facing History & Ourselves, an organization that helps educators use history to develop students’ ethical reflection, civic agency, and capacity to confront prejudice and injustice. He also serves on the board of Phalen Leadership Academies, a network of schools focused on expanding educational opportunity for children in underserved communities.

Since 2021, Reimers has served as President of the Academy Council of the Master’s Program in Education Policy and Management at Universidad Camilo José Cela in Madrid. He is also a member of the Advisory Board to the Organization of Ibero-American States, advising the Secretary General on education policy in Latin America, and serves on the Crown Prince Education Council in the United Arab Emirates. His current advisory roles also include the Council for International Exchange of Scholars’ advisory body to the Fulbright Scholar Program.

Contributing to Educational Futures

From 2019 to 2021, Reimers served as a member of UNESCO’s Commission on the Futures of Education. He contributed to the commission’s report, Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education, which calls for renewed public commitment to education as a shared social endeavor and a global common good.

This work is consistent with his broader engagement across institutions: helping educational organizations clarify their purposes, respond to changing social conditions, strengthen their capacity for innovation, and connect long-term aspirations with practical strategies for implementation.

Previous Board and Public Service

Reimers’s earlier governing and advisory service has included a wide range of educational, international, and philanthropic organizations.

From 2014 to 2024, he served as a director of Teach For All and chaired its Strategy Committee. He served on the board of the Latin American Scholarship Program of American Universities from 2011 to 2022, including as vice-chair from 2013 to 2016. He was president of the board of WorldTeach from 2018 to 2020, following several years as a director.

From 2012 to 2019, he served on the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education after being appointed by the governor. He chaired the Strategic Planning Committee, helping align the strategies of the Commonwealth’s public colleges and universities with a shared statewide vision. He also co-chaired task forces on online learning and on the prevention of campus violence and sexual assault.

His other past roles have included service as a commissioner on the United States National Commission for UNESCO; a board member of Mexico’s National Institute for Educational Evaluation; a director of Room to Read, and Inversant; and an overseer of the Boston Museum of Science. At the museum, he served on committees concerned with programs, awards, and engineering education. He has also served on the advisory board of Subject and on the board of Creative Associates International.

Connecting Governance, Strategy, and Learning

Across these appointments, Reimers has contributed to the development and review of institutional strategies, educational programs, partnerships, and governance arrangements. His work has addressed questions such as how organizations define their mission, use evidence, expand their reach, develop leadership, adapt programs across contexts, and sustain innovation over time.

This practical engagement complements his scholarship and teaching. It provides continuing opportunities to understand how educational ideas are interpreted within institutions, how reforms encounter organizational and political realities, and how governing boards can help organizations remain purposeful, accountable, adaptive, and responsive to the communities they serve.