Daniel R. Porterfield

His total compensation in 2017, his last full year as president, was $835,179.00, making him the fifth highest paid private college president in Pennsylvania. In 2019, F&M faced deep budget cuts attributed to tuition discounting practices instituted during Porterfield's presidency.

The Aspen Institute named Porterfield to succeed author and journalist Walter Isaacson as its next president and CEO on November 30, 2017. He assumed the position on June 1, 2018.

In 2013, Porterfield took part as a panelist discussing “A Path to Higher Ed” on NBC News’ Education Nation, and was the only liberal arts college president invited to speak at the three White House summits focusing on college opportunity hosted by the Obama administration in 2014.

The KIPP Foundation honored Porterfield in 2012 with its “Beyond Z” award, which “celebrates members of the school community who go above and beyond for the benefit of children,” and the “I Have A Dream” Foundation presented him with its Eugene M. Lang Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. In 2016, Porterfield was named a Champion of Change for College Opportunity by the White House.

On Nov. 16, 2010, the Franklin & Marshall College board of trustees announced its selection of Porterfield to serve as the college's 15th president. Porterfield began his tenure at F&M on March 1, 2011 and was inaugurated on Sept. 25, 2011.

In 2011, Porterfield created a highly regarded pre-college summer program, F&M College Prep, to allow more than 70 rising seniors from low-income communities to spend three weeks learning from F&M faculty and current students. He also absorbed F&M's career center into a comprehensive Office of Student & Post-Graduate Development, an effort that gained national attention for its innovative approach to transitioning students into successful lives after college. Under Porterfield's leadership, F&M also set records for applications, fundraising, and fellowships; developed cutting edge new centers for student wellness and faculty excellence; constructed a new athletics stadium; and embarked upon the process of building a groundbreaking new visual arts center designed by world-renowned architect Steven Holl.

Porterfield later served as senior vice president for strategic development at Georgetown. In this role he assisted President John J. DeGioia with the development of new projects and led Georgetown's institutional positioning, communications, government relations, community relations, and intercollegiate athletics. He spearheaded Georgetown's relationship with Teach For America, the KIPP Foundation, the D.C. public schools, and the Cristo Rey Network. He also served as interim director of Georgetown's NCAA Division I athletics program from June 2009 to April 2010.

Georgetown University president Leo J. O'Donovan recruited Porterfield to join the English faculty at his alma mater in 1997. He taught literature courses dealing with human rights, education, and social justice. In 2003, Porterfield received Georgetown's Dorothy Brown Award for exemplary commitment to the educational advancement of students. He subsequently received the Georgetown College Edward Bunn, S.J., Award for Faculty Excellence and the School of Foreign Service Faculty Excellence Award.

As a Rhodes Scholar, Porterfield earned his M.A. from Hertford College, Oxford. He was a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities at The City University of New York Graduate Center, where he earned a Ph.D. in 1995. His dissertation, which covered writers in captivity, received the Irving Howe Prize.

From 1993 to 1996, Porterfield served as a chief speechwriter and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala.

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Porterfield graduated from Loyola Blakefield, a Jesuit college prep school, in 1979. In 1983, he received a B.A. in English from Georgetown University.

Daniel R. Porterfield (born August 19, 1961) is an American academic administrator and former government official, currently serving as the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, an international educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., and Aspen, Colorado. Porterfield previously served as the 15th president of Franklin & Marshall College, senior vice president for strategic development at Georgetown University, and a senior aide to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala during the Clinton Administration.