Jolene brings a wealth of experience in policy and philanthropic leadership to the Rocketship board. After receiving her MBA, she worked for Corning Glass Works in strategic planning and later transitioned to the Federal Government where she gained valuable policy experience working for an independent commission charged with making recommendations to Congress about Medicare.

Jolene and her husband established the Stanley and Jolene Sloter Family Foundation to focus their philanthropy on education, specifically the need for better education opportunities in underserved communities. She is applying her policy experience to analyzing this issue and identifying concepts and organizations that improve the quality of education in low-income communities in DC so they can invest their philanthropic contributions in organizations that produce measurable results.

Jolene also serves on the board of the Teach for America DC Region, and is a member of the Trustee Council for Communities in Schools of Northern Virginia, as well as the Investment Committee for Education Forward DC. A longtime supporter of Rocketship Public Schools, she coordinated the groundbreaking for Rocketship’s first school in DC, which opened in August 2016, and has been instrumental in building the RocketshipDC board of directors and finding new sources of support.

Jolene supports Rocketship’s work because she believes traditional public schools have not adequately served low-income students of color for generations. Rocketship’s three pillars–Personalized Learning, Talent Development, and Parent Power–provide the foundation for building schools that will provide a quality education for these communities.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology/Medical Technology from Lycoming College and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh.