Mark Brown

Trustee, President and CEO, Tuskegee University

Dr. Mark Brown is the president and CEO of Tuskegee University. While a Major General in the Air Force, Dr. Brown served as Deputy Commander of Air Education and Training Command (AETC), Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas. AETC recruits, trains, and educates Air Force personnel. His command included the Air Force Recruiting Service, two numbered Air Forces, and two fully accredited graduate and doctoral degree-granting universities: Air University and the Air Force Institute of Technology. AETC operates more than 1,400 trainer, fighter, and mobility aircrafts, 23 wings, 10 bases, and five geographically separated groups. The command trains more than 293,000 Airmen annually, with approximately 60,000 active-duty, Reserve, Guard, civilian, and contractor personnel. After retiring from the Air Force with 32 years of service, Dr. Brown expanded his educational service as the chief operating officer of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid, which had a lending portfolio of $1.7 trillion equivalent to that of the nation’s five largest consumer lending banks. As COO, he was responsible for all the nation’s Title IV funding. Most recently, he has served as the first president and chief executive officer of the Student Freedom Initiative (SFI) based in Washington, D.C. Dr. Brown and his staff provided four components to 63 HBCUs, which also includes two Tribal Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions. The capabilities include agreements to fund any educational attendance requirements beyond what is paid for through Federal programs, such as Pell Grants, Work-Study, Updated September 2025 4 and Federal Student Loans. SFI is also focused on elevating the communities around its school by providing critical resources such as access to highspeed broadband, cybersecurity upgrades, affordable living spaces and solar energy. Dr. Brown received a bachelor’s from Tuskegee University in Accounting in 1986, earned a Master of Public Administration from Troy University, a Master of Strategic Studies from the Air Command and Staff College, a Master of National Security Strategy from the National War College, and his Doctor of Education from Baylor University.