Eric Waldo is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Washington, DC’s largest scholarship foundation, the District of Columbia College Access Program (DC-CAP).

Prior to joining DC-CAP, Eric served in the Biden-Harris administration as Chief Engagement Officer for the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, where he spearheaded public health campaigns around youth mental health, clinician mental health, health misinformation, and workplace well-being.

In 2019, he began working at Common App, where he stayed for almost three years as Chief Access and Equity Officer. From there, he also continued to lead Mrs. Obama’s college access initiative, Reach Higher post-White House. Eric served in the Obama administration for all eight years. He was Executive Director of First Lady Michelle Obama’s college access and success initiative, Reach Higher starting in 2014, and before that, served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for five years. He was an attorney on the Obama Transition Team, vetting cabinet level officials. And before that, starting in 2007, Eric was a lawyer for President Obama’s campaign in Chicago, working as part of the general counsel team. From 2006 through 2007, Eric clerked for Judge Ann Ann Aldrich in the northern district of Ohio. Eric also serves on the board for the Military Child Education Coalition and the National Postsecondary Institute. Before graduate school, Eric was a working actor in the Boston area, performing at the Speakeasy Stage and the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Immediately after college, Eric worked as a middle school English and improv acting teacher for rising seventh and eighth graders as part of the Americorps program, Summerbridge (now Breakthrough). He earned his law degree from the University of Chicago, his master’s in education from Harvard, and his undergraduate degree in comparative literature from Brown University.