Philadelphia, PA – The Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP) announces a $1M gift from F. William “Bill” McNabb III, and his wife, Katie, to advance our work in improving outcomes for low-income students and responding to the demand of families by expanding access to quality schools.
Bill, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Vanguard, and Katie, an educator and writer, are deeply committed to education in Philadelphia. “All kids deserve a chance to thrive, and as a former teacher, I’ve seen firsthand the power of a positive learning environment on kids’ confidence, curiosity, and creativity,” said Bill McNabb, who joined PSP’s board in 2018. “Philadelphia School Partnership is critical to our community’s future because when we invest in education, we invest in the promise of children.”
PSP is the city’s primary source of startup capital for new and expanding schools. Since its inception in 2011, PSP has focused on creating seats in great schools for Philadelphia students, without any preference for school type or model. PSP has deployed nearly $60 million to support more than 65 schools, including public district, public charter, and parochial schools, in the creation of 28,000 new, quality seats—more than 80% of which serve low-income students. Through strategic investments in schools, leadership, and empowering families to make informed choices, PSP supports an ecosystem in which schools can drive and sustain academic growth—not just for a few students, but across the entire education landscape in Philadelphia.
“Our work is dependent on the investments of people like Bill and Katie McNabb, who share our belief that every student in the city should have the opportunity to attend K-12 schools that prepare them for college and the workforce, and that investing in high-achieving schools and leaders is the best way to accomplish that,” said Mark Gleason, Executive Director of PSP.
The McNabbs’ gift represents a milestone in PSP’s Great Schools Fund II campaign, taking the Fund past the halfway mark toward its goal of $60 million. Great Schools Fund II aims to support the creation and expansion of dozens of new schools, yielding nearly 15,000 new, quality seats.
About F. William McNabb III
F. William McNabb III is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Vanguard. He joined Vanguard in 1986. In 2008, he became chief executive officer; in 2010, he became chairman of the board of directors and the board of trustees. He stepped down as chief executive officer at the end of 2017 and as chairman at the end of 2018. Earlier in his career, he led each of Vanguard’s client-facing business divisions. Mr. McNabb is active in the investment management industry and served as the chairman of the Investment Company Institute’s board of governors from 2013 to 2016. A board member of UnitedHealth Group and the chairman of Ernst & Young’s Independent Audit Committee, he is also chairman of the board of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, a board member of CECP: The CEO Force for Good, and a board member of the Philadelphia School Partnership. In addition, he is the executive in residence at the Raj & Kamla Gupta Governance Institute at the LeBow College of Business and a member of the Advisory Board of the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School. He is a member of the Wharton Leadership Advisory Board of the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management and a member of The Wharton School’s Graduate Executive Board. He also serves on the Dartmouth Athletic Advisory Board. Mr. McNabb earned an A.B. at Dartmouth College, holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Saint Joseph’s University.