Our Team

Ron Fairchild

President & CEO

Ron Fairchild is President and CEO of the Smarter Learning Group. Prior to launching the firm in 2011, Ron served as the founding CEO of the National Summer Learning Association and the executive director of its predecessor organization, the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University from 2002 to 2010. He has extensive experience in fundraising, program management, growth strategy, board development, campaign leadership, and communications. His earlier positions include serving as the director of education programs for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and as an education associate with the Public Education Network. He is also a former public school teacher who holds a B.A. and M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University.

Jenny Atkinson

Senior Consultant

Jenny Atkinson is a senior consultant with the Smarter Learning Group. She has worked with Boys & Girls Clubs for over twenty years, serving as the executive director of a Boys & Girls Club in Boston, creating education and art programs on a national level, training and advising Club staff around the country and working directly with children and teens. Jenny has served on advisory committees for PBS shows including Design Squad and The Secret Life of the Brain. She has been a jurist for The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, Coming Up Taller Awards. She has taught college courses on child growth and development, human development, and sociology. Jenny holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.