Jim Shelton

President and Chief Investment and Impact Officer

As President and CIIO of Blue Meridian Partners, Jim oversees the organization’s day-to-day operations and leads its efforts to continuously increase the impact, reach, and influence of our investees and investments. This includes our work expanding effective solutions nationwide as well as supporting regional and local strategies that capture the compounding benefits of aligning proven and promising solutions from cradle to and through career. Jim is also advancing Blue Meridian’s pursuit of new approaches to improving economic and social mobility and racial equity including exploring the roles of for-profits, policy and advocacy, and targeted universalism in deepening and ultimately broadening our impact. 

Previously, Jim served as the Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Education and was the founding Executive Director of My Brother’s Keeper. Subsequently, he was President and Chief Impact Officer at 2U, Inc. partnering with colleges and universities to increase access to and affordability of top degree programs. He later served as the founding President of Education for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Immediately prior to joining Blue Meridian, Jim founded Amandla Enterprises, an impact investment and advisory firm.   

Jim is currently a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute and Senior Social Impact Advisor to KKR and serves on the boards of several non-profit and for-profit impact-focused organizations. 

Jim holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Morehouse College as well as master’s degrees in both business administration and education from Stanford University.