Yolanda Watson Spiva

Dr. Watson Spiva’s more than 30-year career in postsecondary education spans a range of executive leadership, general management, the federal government, public affairs, operations and academic officer positions. Dr. Spiva serves as the President of Complete College America (CCA). Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, CCA is a bold national advocate for dramatically increasing college completion rates and closing equity gaps by working with states, systems, institutions, and partners to scale highly effective structural reforms and promote policies that improve student success. CCA has become a national leader in the movement to increase the percentage of individuals earning a postsecondary credential dramatically.

Dr. Spiva is the former President & CEO of College Success Foundation (CSF), a national nonprofit college readiness, access, success, and scholarship organization headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., which serves nearly 12,000 low-income students annually through an integrated system of academic, financial, social and emotional supports to help them access and complete postsecondary education.

Before CSF, Dr. Watson Spiva served as CEO/Executive Director of Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams) Atlanta Inc., a nonprofit based in Atlanta that served as a strategic partner to the Atlanta Public School District as well as hundreds of colleges and universities across the nation to increase the number of low-income, first-generation, Atlanta students of color graduating from high school and college. Before Project GRAD, she was assistant dean at Trinity College in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Watson Spiva has also held various positions with the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC, and Atlanta, GA. in the Offices of Postsecondary Education, Student Financial Assistance, and Policy, Planning and Innovation, culminating in her service as Region IV Public Affairs Director in the southeast regional Office of the Secretary of Education. In addition to having authored numerous research articles, Dr. Watson Spiva coauthored the NAACP Image Award-nominated book, Daring to Educate: The Legacy of the Early Spelman College Presidents (1881-1953).