Our Founder
The youngest of six children, Jim Keyes grew up in small, three-roomed home with no heat or running water. His father attended school through the sixth grade, at which time he was forced to quit so that he could help support his large family. His mother grew up in foster homes and, like her husband, became a factory worker. When he was 15, Keyes began working for McDonalds and became the shift manager within a year. During summers, he did a second shift at night as a truck driver. He took on a third job when he became a church organist. He used his earnings and a small baseball scholarship to attend the College of the Holy Cross, which was close to his home. Keyes majored in political science and continued to work at McDonalds. He graduated in 1977 cum laude and as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. He took a year off to work full time, and then entered a JD/MBA program at Columbia University in New York City. During his first year in the business program, he served an internship with Gulf Oil and the company offered him a job as soon as he finished his MBA.
He founded Education is Freedom in 2002, during his time as president and CEO of 7-Eleven. “I credit education as the driving force behind my ability to rise above these circumstances and fulfill my potential,” Keyes said. “I founded Education is Freedom because I wanted every young student, regardless of race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status, to have the same access to education that transformed my life.”
