Gene Bottoms is the former director of the High Schools That Work initiative at the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). Prior to his 30-year tenure at SREB, Bottoms served as executive director of the American Vocational Association (now the Association for Career and Technical Education) and as the director of education improvement for the Georgia Department of Education. Bottoms was instrumental in drafting the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act and shepherding it to passage. In 1995, he was awarded the Harold McGraw Jr. Prize in Education.