About Peter Reinke
Peter is principal of Banneker-Compass, LLC.
Peter’s thirty-year career has included experience as Head of School, Assistant Head of School, Major Gift Officer and senior Diversity practitioner at highly respected educational institutions throughout California. He has also played key roles in public policy as an appointed local and state official on governance and ethics and on the legislative staff of a United States Senator, working on education policy and government ethics.
Peter has lectured at both Stanford Law School and the Haas Business School on fiduciary obligations related to public pension funds. His views on public pension solvency have been quoted in Business Week and the associated press. A longtime expert on not for profit, corporate and public sector governance, Peter is both a state advisory board member and national board member for Common Cause, the nation’s leading advocacy group for a high standard of ethics& transparency in government. During Governor Brown’s mayoral administration in Oakland, Peter was vice-chair of the city’s ethics commission, the body that sets city council salaries and enforces both the Brown Act and local Sunshine Ordinances. During his tenure, the commission curated one of the first limited public financing system in the nation.
Peter serves as Head of School Emeritus at St. James’ Episcopal School in Los Angeles, CA, the first Head Emeritus in the school’s history. Peter grew the faculty and student enrollment at St. James considerably, and restructured admission, leading to the best yield in the school’s history. A strong story teller and fundraiser, Peter brought the school family participation in the annual fund consistently to 100% and grew the fund by over 40% during his tenure and quintupled board philanthropic support and tripled trustee major gifts. Peter also secured new real estate to grow the school and serve as the cornerstone for parish-school collaboration and ongoing strategic planning.
At the governance level, Peter worked closely with the St. James’s school board to establish audit and DEIJB committees, the best practice within independent schools. At Peter’s retirement, the St. James’ board of trustees named an endowment fund in his honor. Both this endowment and the Peter S. Reinke Fund through the California Community Foundation were established to support tuition assistance at St. James’ School.
Peter spent several years on the board of standards of the California Association of Independent Schools, the accrediting body for California’s 400 independent schools. He also served a number of years on the accrediting body for Episcopal schools within the Diocese of Los Angeles. During the first and second Schwarzenegger administrations, Peter was a trustee for California’s teacher retirement system, the nation’s second largest public pension fund. He chaired the system’s corporate governance committee, and was vice-chair of the governance and investment committees. Peter also chaired the board of trustees at Clausen House, an almost 60-year Episcopal agency providing essential services to almost 200 developmentally disabled adults. Peter is very proud of his brother Steven, a longtime resident at Clausen House.
Peter is also a trustee of U.C. Berkeley’s Wright School of Psychology; he formerly served as a trustee of Cal’s Canterbury Foundation. He is board treasurer for the Episcopal School of Los Angeles and chairs the audit committees for both the investment fund of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the Diocesan Neighborhood Youth Association. Peter has also served on the Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles’ advisory group on clergy and lay compensation. A lifelong Episcopalian, Peter has served a number of terms on parish vestries and as a parish senior warden. He is particularly delighted to have been senior warden of Nat King Cole’s home church.
An alumnus of Brown University (BA) and Columbia University (MA), Peter serves on the Brown Annual Fund Leadership Council, which partners in raising 50 million annually for Brown. He was a vice-chair for his 30th reunion gift committee and a class marshal of his 25th reunion. He has previously served on the Brown Corporation’s ad-hoc committee on government relations and the Corporation’s advisory council on relations with Tougaloo College. Peter co-chaired the establishment of the John Hope Service Award at Brown.
Peter has been officially recognized by both former Oakland Mayor and California Governor Jerry Brown for his work in fundraising, government ethics and advocacy for young people and by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for his work in education, diversity and transparency in state government. Peter is also the recipient of the Los Angeles Area Boy Scouts’ Eldridge Fretwell Award for outstanding service to young people and the Head-Royce School’s Chief Justice Michael Traynor Award for outstanding service to mission.