Carol Rava

Carol Rava is the Vice President – Education Grantmaking for Ascendium. In this role, she oversees Ascendium’s programmatic grantmaking teams across the three core strategies - Expand Opportunity, Support Learner Success, and Connect and Align Systems. She also oversees media partnerships. She joined Ascendium in 2025. Previously, Carol launched and led operations and external affairs at the Postsecondary Commission, an accreditor for colleges that provide strong economic returns to their students. Carol helped found the national non-profit Get Schooled, which offered free digital college and career counseling for low-income students. She was an executive at Seattle Public Schools overseeing strategy and performance management, and spent eight years in a variety of leadership roles for the Gates Foundation’s K12 education strategy across policy, advocacy, communications, and program teams. Carol earned an MA in Education Policy from Stanford, and a BA in History and Religion from Harvard. She raised her three kids in and has called Seattle home for 30 years.