David A. Bergeron is a retired higher education policy expert that continues to be engaged on issues of access, affordability and success. David serves on the dean’s advisory council for the College of Education at the University of Rhode Island. Until recently, he was member of the board of College Unbound, a fully accredited, non-profit degree completion college in Providence, RI.
He supports efforts to address the post-COVID nursing shortage. David has previously served in a variety of other volunteer roles at the URI including serving on the president’s and the dean of the College of Arts and Science’s Advisory Council, the university’s Strategic Budget and Planning Council, the advisory committee to the recent search for a new president, and on the search committee for a new dean of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences. Until 2021, David was a Senior Fellow for Postsecondary Education at Center for American Progress where he previously served as the Center’s first Vice President for Postsecondary Education Policy from 2013 until 2015.
Before joining the Center, David had served for more than 35 years at the U.S. Department of Education. David rose through the ranks to end his long government career as acting assistant secretary for Postsecondary Education in the Obama administration, a position that entailed serving as the education secretary’s chief advisor on higher-education issues and administering the grant and loan programs, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning, and Innovation in the Office of Postsecondary Education.