Joe Watkins

Short Biography

Joe Watkins was appointed by Delaware County, PA, Court of Common Pleas Judge Chad F. Kenney as the Chester Upland School District receiver. The order took effect December 14, 2012 and keeps Chester Upland under receivership until December 12, 2015. He will implement the financial and academic recovery plan he developed while serving as the district’s chief recovery officer in August. He had served as the Chief Recovery Officer (CRO) for the Chester Upland School District, Delaware County, PA, following his appointment in August 2012. He is the first person to serve in this role following the Pennsylvania Legislature’s enactment of a new law in July 2012 that gives the state education secretary, Ron Tomalis, a new approach to dealing with failing school districts. As CRO, Watkins, known as a school choice advocate, has committed to developing and implementing a comprehensive academic and financial recovery plan for the public school district. He is pastor of the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church and a Republican MSNBC political analyst. Previously he was chairman of Students First PAC of the Students First Corporation, a Pennsylvania statewide not-for-profit organization that promotes school choice and opportunity scholarships. He was featured in a documentary about the PAC’s work which can be seen at Students First. During 2009-1010 he was a full-time candidate for statewide office as Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania in the Republican Primary. Previously, he was a director of Hill Solutions, LLC, a lobbying and consulting firm. He also was one of three partners and the chief marketing officer of MDL Capital, which managed nearly $2 billion in pension funds for clients such as Boeing, SEPTA, and the City of Baltimore.