Peter A. Blake joined the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) as interim director in 2011 and became director in January 2012. Blake previously worked at SCHEV as an associate director overseeing higher education analyses in the areas of faculty and staff compensation, higher education funding policies, academic libraries, distance learning and instructional technology, and student financial aid. 

Blake left SCHEV in 1999 to serve as the legislative fiscal analyst for the Virginia General Assembly’s House Appropriations Committee. From 2002-2006 he was deputy secretary of education and secretary of education under former Governor Mark Warner. He later served as the vice chancellor of workforce development services for the Virginia Community College System, where he led policy and budget development for state and federal workforce programs. 

In July 2015, Blake was elected chair of the executive committee of SHEEO (State Higher Education Executive Officers), the national association for chief executives of statewide governing, policy and coordinating boards of postsecondary education. He had served as SHEEO’s treasurer and chair of its budget and finance subcommittee.
Blake has served on boards of organizations including LEAD Virginia, the Virginia Commonwealth University Alumni Association, the Richmond Public Library, the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Blake completed the Virginia Executive Institute and LEAD Virginia programs, as well as the Associates program through the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. He recently completed The Executive Program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He holds B.A. and M.S. degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University.