Michael O'Keefe served as president of Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) from 2002 to June 2009. MCAD is one of the nation’s highly regarded private art and design colleges, offering fifteen undergraduate majors including fine arts, design, illustration, animation, and multi-media; post-baccalaureate study; and a fine arts master’s degree program.

Prior to joining MCAD, Mr. O’Keefe served as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the state’s largest department with an annual budget of $6 billion and 6,700 employees. The department supports a broad range of services including health care, economic assistance, child welfare services, and services for the elderly and people with disabilities.

Mr. O’Keefe’s background also includes ten years as executive vice president and chief executive officer for the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis. The foundation provides grants in human services, housing, the arts, and the environment. It supports research in several areas as well as international projects. Mr. O’Keefe is the former president of the Consortium for the Advancement of Private Higher Education in Washington, DC and has held a number of posts in higher education and government.

Since 1987, Mr. O’Keefe has cochaired the Program on Education at the Aspen Institute. He presently serves on the board of directors of Minnesota Public Radio and the Minneapolis-based policy group Growth and Justice. He has also served on other education- and government-related boards including the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota.

Mr. O’Keefe earned a BS degree from Marquette University (Milwaukee, WI) in physics, mathematics, and philosophy and an MS degree from the University of Pittsburgh in nuclear physics and mathematics. He has an honorary doctor of letters from Hamline University.