Dr. Ruby Payne

Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D., author, speaker, publisher, business owner and career educator, is an  expert on the mindsets of economic classes and on crossing socioeconomic lines in education, work, and for social change. Ruby Payne is founder and CEO of the aha! Process.

Dr. Payne’s work stems from more than 30 years of firsthand experience in the public schools, as department head, principal, and central office administrator of staff development. She became known for helping students from all economic backgrounds to achieve academic success. She received her B.A. from Goshen (IN) College, earned a master’s degree in English Literature from Western Michigan University, and her doctorate in Educational Leadership & Policy from Loyola University in Illinois. She has written or co-authored more than a dozen books - with her foundational work, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, having sold over 1,000,000 copies.

As founder and president of aha! Process, Inc., she has published more than a hundred books, materials, and audio-visual products. Dr. Payne presents her work throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia, China, and India, traveling extensively. She presents a variety of workshops based on her book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, together with her strategies for successfully raising student achievement and negotiating economic class barriers.