Eric Gordon was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District in June 2011 after serving as the district’s Chief Academic Officer for four years. He is responsible for the leadership and daily management of Cleveland’s 35,600 student school district.

In July 2012, Mr. Gordon led a citywide coalition to develop Cleveland’s Plan for Transforming Schools or The Cleveland Plan which has resulted in dramatic improvement in academic performance over the last decade, including a 29 percentage point gain in graduation rates to a record 80.9%.  Following years of decline in post-secondary enrollment for CMSD students despite the increasing graduation rates, Mr. Gordon then led a city-wide coalition in bringing Say Yes to Education to Cleveland that, for the next 25 years, will make CMSD students eligible for full-tuition scholarships upon graduation. After launch of the Say Yes scholarships, CMSD saw its first increase in postsecondary education enrollment in five years, from 44 percent to 49 percent.   

Among his many awards, CEO Gordon received the Green-Garner Award of the Council of the Great City Schools in 2016, distinguishing him as the top Urban Educator of the Year, the highest national honor for an urban school superintendent.   In addition to being named one of Cleveland Magazine’s Most Interesting People” early in his tenure as superintendent, Mr. Gordon’s active engagement in the Cleveland community has been noted with a number of community awards, including the Diversity Center of Cleveland’s Humanitarian Award, Inside Business Magazine’s Power 100 Award and Smart Business Magazine’s Top 50 Award, which honors the most successful executives in northeast Ohio, and most recently the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation’s Outstanding Ohio Superintendent Performance Award.