Voted one of Business Week's 50 most philanthropic Americans in 2004, Board of Trust Member and Chairman and CEO of both the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation and EduCap Inc. Catherine Reynolds annually donates millions of dollars to worthy causes.
The Catherine B. Reynolds donates money to over 50 causes, including Teach for America, the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and Reading is Fundamental, a national literacy organization. All of these charitable organizations have one thing in common: They aim to educate the youth in both factual and cultural knowledge.
Reynolds believes a solid education is one of the most important factors in a child's development, and she has dedicated her life to helping people achieve this. When Reynolds, a girl from a working class family, attended college, most student loans originated in government programs.
However, she saw that with tuition costs rising, these programs simply did not cover the demand for financial aid. After graduating from Vanderbilt in 1979, she joined a small student loan company in Virginia headed by a local Catholic priest, and it was from here that she completely reformed the student loan industry, turning it into the $17 billion industry that it is today.
Each year, Reynolds and her husband, Wayne Reynolds, host the International Achievement Summit, a summit which brings together graduate students and leaders in the arts, business, public service, science, exploration and sports. The aim of the conference is to introduce students to real-life role models: people the students can look up to and aspire to be. Previous speakers have included President Bill Clinton, President-Elect Barack Obama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Indiana Colt quarterback Peyton Manning.
"We know how to change lives with (the summit). We know how to touch the souls of young people," Reynolds said in an interview on “60 Minutes.”
As a pioneer in the student loan industry, Reynolds has also recently served as a member of the U.S. Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education. She has been praised by other members of the commission for her work.
"As a taxpayer, I am glad to have people like Catherine and her competitors provide lending services that appropriately should be handled by free enterprise, not by government bureaucrats and politicians," said Richard Vedder in his online blog.
At Vanderbilt, Reynolds currently serves on the Academic Programs and Student Life Committees.
