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Chief Business Development and Strategy Officer
Founder Grockit
Eric Koester is the COO of Zaarly. Eric has co-founded several businesses including Learn That Name, which was acquired in 2010. Eric most recently served as VP Operations & General Counsel at Appature Inc., a cloud-based relationship marketing software company. Eric holds a JD from The George Washington University School of Law, BA in Business Administration from Marquette University and is a certified public accountant in the State of Washington.
Victor Reinoso is Senior Advisor to the President of Georgetown University, where his focus is technology innovation, online/distance learning, and international education. As Deputy Mayor of the District of Columbia, Victor led the takeover of the public school system, hired Michelle Rhee, and oversaw the city’s $1+ billion education budget.
Elizabeth focuses on education and information technology investments at New Markets Venture Partners. She spends much of her time finding new entrepreneurs in education and supporting New Markets’ investments in education companies as Board Observer at Apangea Learning and Moodlerooms. Prior to New Markets, Elizabeth was a Senior Associate at The Gladstone Companies, a family of public funds (NASDAQ: GLAD, GAIN, GOOD) providing private equity, debt and real estate financing based in McLean, VA. Prior to Gladstone, Elizabeth was an Account Executive with M&T Bank's Middle Market Commercial and Industrial Lending Group in Philadelphia, PA. She graduated with Honors from Mount Holyoke College, with a major in Politics and received a MBA from Columbia Business School.
Richard A. Tagle is the CEO of Higher Achievement, one of the fastest growing out of school time programs in the nation. Higher Achievement develops the academic skills, attitudes and behaviors among middle school students that lead to improved grades, test scores, school attendance, and places these students in high schools that get them on track to college. Richard has taken this 35-year old program from being a local shop in Washington, DC and turn into a national organization with programs in Alexandria, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Richmond – with more expansion sites in the works. Richard has been immersed in education, health and youth development policies and programs for over 25 years.
Emily is a program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she works on digital media and learning for middle- and secondary-school students. Previously, she was the director of student services and engagement at ASU Online, Arizona State University’s online campus, where her responsibilities included student services, technology partnerships, and web development. Before joining ASU Online, Emily was special assistant and director of communications for the ASU provost, and led the development of ASU’s social networking app, ASU on Facebook. She was a speechwriter and policy analyst for the State University of New York system and once worked in email marketing for Bluefly.com, where she bought lots and lots of shoes.
Sujata Bhat is the Director of Operations at DC Preparatory Academy, a high-performing, EPIC award-winning CMO with three campuses in under-served communities in Northeast DC. Prior to DC Prep, she was an Education Pioneers fellow at New Schools Venture Fund. She has an MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in human development.
David Stevenson is responsible for policy, advocacy, and outreach activities at Wireless Generation. He previously managed the product development group and personally led the software teams that developed the company’s early assessment products. He has developed partnerships with the University of Texas, the University of Chicago, and major publishers including Pearson, Harcourt, and McGraw-Hill. Prior to joining Wireless Generation, Stevenson was a producer and product manager at Scholastic. Previously, he worked as a technology director in schools in New York City and Paris, France. He holds an A.B. from Brown University.
Jason Hoekstra is a Technology Solutions Advisor for the U.S. Department of Education. Jason plans and implements social media and web-based solutions for citizen engagement and information dissemination. While at the Department, he has led the construction and roll out for websites such as TEACH.gov, Data.ED.gov, and Innovation.ED.gov.
Joseph Mosby was one of the winners of the inaugural SW EDU in June in San Francisco. His team launched DemoLesson, which improved the teacher hire process by adding videos to resumes in a way that did not impact student privacy. Joseph has since moved on to Deloitte in Washington, DC
Bart Epstein is Senior Vice President of Tutor.com -- the world’s largest online tutoring and homework help service. As General Manager of the company’s military and federal business, Bart is responsible for the “Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families” program that provides Tutor.com’s innovative academic support service to every member of the U.S. Military, and to their children. Prior to joining Tutor.com in 2004 as its Vice President of Corporate Development, Bart was a corporate attorney at Latham & Watkins, in the Venture & Technology group. Bart has coached startups through the Grubstakes Breakfast and guest lectured at Georgetown University MBA program. He holds a JD from the University of Virginia, serves as President and Chairman of Gifts for the Homeless, and serves as a volunteer pilot for Angel Flight.
Joseph Olchefske joined Educate Online in 2010 after distinguished careers in both K-12 public education and investment banking. As Educate Online's president, he is responsible for leading a strategic expansion of the company's programs to serve more students in K-12 school districts and higher education institutions. Previously, Olchefske was a managing director at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), where he played a lead role in developing AIR's School District Consulting Practice, which focused on consulting with large urban school systems and state departments of education on large-scale reform strategies. Prior to joining AIR, Olchefske served as the superintendent of Seattle Public Schools (SPS) from 1998 to 2003. As SPS superintendent, he served as the chief executive officer of a public school system with 47,000 students, 100 schools, 7,000 employees, and an annual operating budget of $435 million. Before joining SPS, Olchefske spent 12 years as an investment banker in the public finance department at Piper Jaffray, where he served as an underwriter and financial adviser to a wide variety of local governments throughout the Pacific Northwest. He graduated with honors from the University of Chicago and received a master's degree in city and regional planning from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
Charles Wright is a Portfolio Manager of the Next Generation Models Team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Charles comes to us most recently from the Denver Public Schools where he was Chief Strategy Officer. Earlier in his career he did a tour of duty with the Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, FL as Chief Officer for Organizational Effectiveness. In addition to these executive roles in large districts, Charles founded a consulting organization that works with schools, districts, and education nonprofits on performance management projects, focusing on linking strategy to clear outcomes for success. He is also an entrepreneur who helped launch a website that helps parents and communities support their children’s learning and development in and out of school. In addition to his education experience, Charles spent time in investment banking at Salomon Smith Barney and consulting for the Mitchell Madison Group, and was a program assistant at the Ford Foundation.
Dr. Barbara (Bobbi) Kurshan has honed her vision of “what can be” using technology while supporting the growth of new education companies and developing innovative software products. She currently serves as the President of Educorp Consultants Corporation, where she provides strategic consulting in the areas of education, technology and innovation and the Executive Vice President of WorldSage, a consortium of for-profit higher education institutions in the EU to address education for the 21st century. As the past Executive Director of Curriki she helped to build one of the most innovative and robust global open source education communities. Dr. Kurshan has previously served as the Co-CEO of Core Learning an education investment fund and the Chief Academic Officer of bigchalk. She currently serves on the Board of several education companies. Dr. Kurshan has been involved with education and technology for over 30 years. She developed the first children’s software products for Microsoft and also created award-winning products for McGraw-Hill, Apple, CCC (Pearson) and others. As a professor, she helped students research the impact of technology on learning. Numerous publishing credits include topics that explore women’s attitudes toward technology, how kids learn using computers, and new ways of learning through understanding.
Sharon Chang is a media executive, social entrepreneur, and angel investor. She is the Founder of Yoxi (www.yoxi.tv), a media platform to discover and develop social innovation rockstars. Before founding Yoxi, Sharon was the Chief Creative Officer of 19 Entertainment, the company behind popular TV shows American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. She has also worked as a brand strategist and creative director in a number of prestigious global agencies, with over 16 years of experience leading major branding and design initiatives for clients such as Sony, Motorola, Cadillac, Estée Lauder, P&G, TED, Starwood Hotels, Universal Music, CNN and Hulu.
Sri Peddu is the founder and Managing Director of Powerhouse Ventures, an investment boutique based in Washington, DC. Powerhouse Ventures focuses on raising investments in the Mobile-Internet and Infrastructure (particularly renewable energy) sectors in India and the US. In the context of India, these two sectors are on the cusp and present tremendous growth opportunities. Before starting Powerhouse Ventures, Sri worked for the World Bank in Washington, DC, for three years, most recently in its Governance and Anti-Corruption Practice. He also brings seven years of private sector experience as a project manager, business analyst and program coordinator at various companies in the United States. His entrepreneurial zeal dates back to the early 2000s when he co-founded and was the President of OM, Inc. a technology consulting and systems-integration company. He graduated with honors from The New School, New York City with a Masters degree in International Affairs and received a Bachelor’s degree from Loyola University, Chicago. He is currently serving as an entrepreneurship and business strategy mentor to TiE-DCs The Young Entrepreneurs program.
John C Ittelson is Professor Emeritus, California State University Monterey Bay. John currently serves as Director, Communication, Collaboration, and Outreach, for the California Virtual Campus. During his career he has had the opportunity to share his vision on emerging technologies and new concepts such as online-learning, ePortfolios and learning outcome assessments. As a way of furthering the development and improvement in these areas he has and continues to present at numerous conferences and workshops. He and his co-authors just completed, “Documenting Learning with ePortfolios: A Guide for College Instructors”. John serves as the co-facilitator of the EPAC (Electronic Portfolio Action Committee) a national group focused on using ePortfolios. He is also the co-chair of the Academic ePortfolio Workgroup for the Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC). He sits on the Board of Access Monterey Peninsula Cable Consortium, the California ASCD and the National Board of the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CLIC). John is an Apple Distinguished Educator, and an Adobe Educational Leader. During the 2001-2002 academic year, Dr Ittelson was selected to be one of two National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII) Fellows, chosen by EDUCAUSE. In 2003 John was named one of 25 California State University faculty members to receive the Bautzer University Faculty Advancement Award.
An e-learning pioneer, Jinny launched several firsts, including national teacher professional development, literacy education, and college degree programs. She is currently the Co-founder and Executive Producer of HigherEdTECH, a one-day summit and four-day exhibition that explores the impact of technology innovation in higher education -- in the midst of the international Consumer Electronic Show (CES), the largest event of its kind. Jinny also is President of the Goldstein Education Group, a consulting firm that provides strategic advice and services to educational and media organizations. Jinny had served as Vice President for Education and Strategy at Educate, Inc. where she guided strategic partnerships for Smarterville and an online initiative for parents. Prior to that, Jinny was Senior VP of Education at PBS and President of The Business Channel, a for-profit training joint venture. Jinny serves on several boards and advisory groups, including: the President’s Advisory Council of Teachers College, Columbia University
Guy Friedman is the founder and CEO of The Certified Business Laureate Exam (TheBusinessTest.com), a standardized business skills test for entry level job candidates. The exam is a standardized and consistent measure for employers to gauge business knowledge and skills vs. inconsistent measures such as GPA, majors, degree and school quality. Previously, Guy worked at Nextstage Capital, an early stage venture capital firm in Philadelphia, PA. Guy holds a with a BA/MA in Economics from Tufts University and an MBA from The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. The firm is currently based in Philadelphia, PA.
Jack Slye focuses on consumer and education investments with LLR Partners including working with portfolio companies Avenues: The World School, Brightside Academies and VectorLearning. Prior to joining LLR, Jack was a Principal with Sterling Partners and COO of Sylvan’s National Learning Centers. Jack graduated from the University of Maryland and a received a MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
The entrance to the McDonough School of Business Rafik B. Hariri Building is located on Georgetown University’s main campus, next to the Georgetown Conference Center and Hotel (also known as the Leavey Center.) Below are detailed directions from several points on or near campus. We recommend that visitors travel by taxi as parking is limited. [...]
Today, we announce the launch of Startup Weekend EDU a continuing series of Startup Weekends dedicated to the Education and Learning markets. We couldn’t be more excited! This new track within Startup Weekend is a partnership between Startup Weekend and Grockit, the edtech startup that I founded. Grockit is a social-learning platform and so you [...]
Startup Weekends are 54-hour events where developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups! Startup Weekends are weekend-long, hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs can find out if startup ideas are viable. On average, half of Startup Weekend’s attendees have technical backgrounds, [...]
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