David Spence (Georgia) became president of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) in August 2005. Prior to coming to SREB, Spence served as executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer of the California State University (CSU) system. While at CSU, he helped California public schools and the CSU system develop courses for high school seniors and a college-readiness assessment. Spence’s career has also included positions as executive director of the Florida Postsecondary Education Planning Commission, executive vice chancellor for the University System of Georgia, and executive vice chancellor and vice chancellor for academic programs at the State University System of Florida. In the mid-1980s, he served as vice president for educational policies at SREB, working directly with the SREB Commission for Educational Quality to develop the South’s first formal goals for improving education; the goals were a model for President George H. W. Bush and the nation’s governors when the established national education goals in 1989.