Alec Macaulay is the Managing Director of External Affairs for IDEA Public Schools—a Texas-based public charter school network dedicated to helping students from historically underserved communities get to-and-through college. In his role, he leads the team guiding IDEA’s multi-state policy priorities, legislator engagement, coalition partnerships, grassroots advocate activation, and grass-tops direct advocacy work.
Alec comes to the fight for educational equity through Teach For America, where he originally served as a 2007 Corps Member in Charlotte, NC. Unwilling to accept the systemic inequities he saw perpetuated in his placement school, his 2 year commitment to teach instead became 7 years in Title I classrooms and a lifelong mission to close gaps in achievement, experience, and opportunity for students.
In the second phase of his career, Alec has remained in the non-profit educational space with mission-driven organizations like 50CAN, Out Teach, and Kiwanis International. Whether securing major philanthropic commitments as an advancement officer, influencing legislators and policymakers to become champions for educational equity, or speaking out as a storyteller and cheerleader for the cause, Alec is firmly and reliably grounded with a “students first” mindset.
Alec is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, Kiwanis International, and Leadership For Educational Equity (LEE) which recently named him as an Inaugural Rise Fellow in partnership with the Pahara Institute. He is also a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), a commissioned Kentucky Colonel, and an Audubon Society Master Birder. In college, Alec served as the International President of Circle K International. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Duke University.
After 15 years in North Carolina, Alec spent 4 years in Florida helping lead IDEA’s expansion there, then moved to Austin, TX where he currently resides since the beginning of 2025. Alec enjoys live music, birding, tennis, sand volleyball, stargazing, being outdoors with his faithful old dog “Mungo”, and—as a proud Blue Devil—cheering for his two favorite teams: Duke, and whoever is playing against UNC!