Cordell is currently the managing principal of Expectant Advisory, an equity-focused consulting collaborative, and the former executive director of the Aspen Institute Socrates Program, a global education forum. In one of his roles at the Aspen Institute, he curates more than three dozen off-the-record leadership seminars annually in capital cities around the world reaching more than 1,000 leaders each year. Before his current roles, Cordell held leadership roles with the TechTown Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Business Roundtable, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the IBM Corporation.
Cordell earned a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School, an M.Sc. in Public Policy and Management Studies from Carnegie Mellon University, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington.