Achieving the Dream President and CEO Dr. Karen A. Stout

Dr. Karen A. Stout has served as president and CEO of Achieving the Dream since 2015. Achieving the Dream is a network of over 300 community colleges working to become profoundly accessible hubs of learning, credentialing and economic mobility that eliminate inequities in educational and workforce outcomes.

Dr. Stout has received national recognition for her achievements and accomplishments in higher education innovation and leadership. In 2022, she was awarded the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Leadership Award and entered the organization’s Hall of Fame. She was named the American Association for Women in Community College’s Woman of the Year in 2017, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education’s Leading Women in 2018, one of Washington Monthly’s 16 most innovative higher education leaders in 2016, to Was ...