Dr. Jennifer Clyburn Reed was nominated by President Joe Biden in August 2021 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 8, 2021 as the first Federal Co-Chair of the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission (SCRC). SCRC is a federal-state partnership established by the 2008 Farm Bill (page 547, P.L. 110-234) to spur economic development in seven Southeastern states – AL, FL, GA, MS, NC, SC, and VA.
As a small business owner, public servant, educator, and community advocate, Dr. Reed understands the importance of transportation, housing, infrastructure, education, healthcare, a skilled workforce, and civility to improve social and economic conditions within communities.
Dr. Reed’s professional career spanned 28 years in the South Carolina public school system and at the college level before retiring in 2020. Dr. Reed is the former Director of an education and equity center at the University of South Carolina and was co-founder of the Apple Core Initiative (ACI), a teacher recruitment, enrollment and retention scholarship program in the USC College of Education. She also serves on the selection committee for the Dr. Emily England Clyburn Endowed Scholarship housed at the Dr. Emily E. Clyburn Honors College on the campus of South Carolina State University, the state’s only public HBCU.
Dr. Reed earned a doctoral degree in Instructional Leadership from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She is also a three-time graduate of the University of South Carolina, earning an Education Specialist in Teaching (Ed.S.), Masters in Arts and Teaching (M.A.T.), and Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Political Science degrees.
Prior to this appointment, Dr. Reed was co-owner of a property investment, restoration and management company, and President of its nonprofit arm which channeled her commitment to local communities. She has operated an educational consulting company and is a self-taught home gardener.
Dr. Reed is married to Mississippi native Walter A. Reed and they have two adult children, Walter A. Clyburn Reed and Sydney Reed Jackson, a son-in-law, Justin Jackson, and one granddaughter, Eden Elyse Jackson.