Harold O. Levy is best known for having been Chancellor of New York City's public schools, and being the last Chancellor elected by an independent Board of Education. He served for 2½ years during the end of Mayor Rudy Giuliani's term and the beginning of Mayor Mike Bloomberg's from 2000 to 2002.
Subsequent to becoming Schools Chancellor, he was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Kaplan, Inc., a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company. He was a member of the senior management team of Kaplan's Higher Education Division, which included over 70 for-profit campuses and an online university with over 60,000 students. Levy was a member of the board of Hesser College and Kaplan University, as well as responsible for starting Kaplan University's online School of Education.
From 1985 to 2000, Levy provided legal advice to Citigroup, Inc. and its predecessors, Traveler's Group, Inc., Salomon, Inc. and Philipp Brothers, Inc. He was the Associate General Counsel and handled special assignments, including serving as Citigrpoup's Director of Global Compliance, Salomon Brothers' Senior Litigation Counsel, and serving as liaison to community groups, including Reverend Jesse Jackson's Rainbow / Push Wall Street Project. During this period, the New York State Legislature elected Levy to be a member of the New York State Board of Regents. Chancellor Ramon Cortines appointed him chair of the New York City Commission on School Facilities and Maintenance Reform.
He currently resides with his wife and two children in New York City. Levy was Managing Director-Special Counsel at Plainfield Asset Management from 2007–2009 and is now Managing Director of Palm Ventures, a firm that makes early stage venture capital investments. He is also a member of the Wilson Council of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a trustee of Pace University, a trustee of Citizens Budget Commission, a member of Citizens Union Board of Governors and Treasurer of the Roosevelt Institute, the nonprofit partner of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York.
He was a member of the 1970 graduating class of the Bronx High School of Science, where he was President of the Student Organization. He earned a B.S in 1974 from Cornell University, an M.A. in 1978 from Oxford University, and a J.D. in 1979 from Cornell Law School. At Cornell, Levy served as a student trustee,[1] chair of the University Senate Executive Committee and was a member of the Quill and Dagger society. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by Bard College, Baruch College of the City University of New York and St. Francis College.
| Educational offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Rudy Crew |
Schools Chancellor of New York City 2000–2002 |
Succeeded by Joel Klein |