Boardroom Media (COO News)
At COO (Boardroom Media) we track over 1,000,000 startups and over 5,000,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United States based COO’ operating in the EdTech space. If you think a COO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on [email protected].
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Mark Williamson
Chief Operating Officer of MasterClass
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About MasterClass: MasterClass is a provider of an online education platform designed to offer video based vocational courses.
Ellen Patterson
Chief Operating Officer of EVERFI
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About EVERFI: EVERFI is an education technology company that provides learners of all ages education for the real world.
Michael Letta
COO and General Partner of Human Ventures
Michael Letta is the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Human Ventures. Michael comes to Human Ventures from charity: water where he served as CFO. He was hired by the founder to lead various finance, operations and administrative functions through a rapid expansion of the organization from $9M to $45M in annual revenue; where headcount grew from 20 to 75 employees, and the unique supporter base from 56K to more than 700K. During this same period, collective fundraising efforts brought in more than $175M of both working capital and international investment funding. The latter will help bring more than 6M people in 24 developing countries clean, safe drinking water. Prior to charity: water, Michael led teams at Thomson Media and Deloitte. He’s a CPA and holds a BS/BA from The Ohio State University.
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About Human Ventures: Human Ventures is a business creation platform, comprised of a venture fund, studio and enterprise agency.
Soham Khaitan
Co-Founder & COO of Ambi
Co-Founder at Ambi.network.
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About Ambi, Forbes: Ambi is designed to centralize the college experience for students through a productive and powerful social network.
Charu Noheria
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Practically
Charu Noheria is a Co-founder and Chief Operating Office at 3RDFLIX Visual Effects Pvt. Ltd.
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About Practically: Practically is India’s first experiential learning app designed to make learning immersive for students of classes 6-12
Cameron Wilson
COO and President, Code.org Advocacy Coalition of Code.org
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About Code.org: Code.org is a non-profit foundation focusing on developing computer programming education in the U.S.
Ian Clarkson
President & COO of Varsity Tutors
Ian, president and COO of Varsity Tutors, oversees the Company’s product, technology, sales, and tutor recruitment efforts. Prior to joining Varsity Tutors, Ian served as the chief operating officer of Sears Home Services where he oversaw operations in product, technology, sales and field operations, among other roles, with 14,000 people reporting through him. Prior to his role at Sears, he spent 15 years at Amazon, where he worked in a variety of functions including technology, operations, service and retail. Clarkson ran the Seller Services business for Europe, overseeing a variety of products and teams in nine countries. He has a proven track record in building consumer digital products, including launching AmazonFresh as employee No. 1.
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About Nerdy, Varsity Tutors: Varsity Tutors is a live learning platform that connects students and professionals with personalized instruction to achieve any goal.
Chris Chumley
Chief Operating Officer of CampusLogic
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About CampusLogic: CampusLogic develops tools and resources used by college officials to help students manage scholarships, loans, and other supports.
Adam Hollander
COO & Board of Directors of OnlineMedEd
Adam Hollander is the COO & Board of Directors of OnlineMedEd.
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About Aria Capital Management, OnlineMedEd: OnlineMedEd is a digital health care learning platform designed for medical students and health professionals.
Shamis Abdi
Chief Operating Officer of Noodle Markets
Shamis is responsible for overseeing business operations and data management. She previously served as the Chief of Staff to the President of Florida A&M University and as the Director of Operations at Girls Preparatory Charter School of New York-Lower East Side Elementary, where she was responsible for finance, HR, IT, purchasing, compliance to the city and state, facility management, school operations, and event management. Prior to joining the education industry, Shamis was a VP at Banc of America Securities LLC in the Prime Brokerage Division and worked as a human resources management consultant at Towers Perrin and Hay Group. Shamis holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. She can often be found at home watching Law & Order reruns or out and about in NYC doing karaoke with friends
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About Noodle Markets: Noodle Markets is K-12’s first digital procurement platform and national marketplace.
Michael Vilardo
Co-Founder, President, COO, and Board Director of Emile Learning
Michael Vilardo is the Co-Founder, President, COO, & Board Director at Emile Learning.
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About Emile Learning: Building the Netflix of HS education, where students can earn HS and College credit for engaging with our premium videos.
Keith Westman
Chief Operating Officer of Otus
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About Otus: Otus is the teaching and learning platform that all school stakeholders use to track and visualize student performance over time.
Payal Tandon
Co-Founder & COO of E-Gmat
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About E-Gmat: E-Gmat provide personalized and effective learning to the masses at extremely affordable prices.
Nitzan Cohen Arazi
Co Founder and COO of Jolt
Nitzan is a life long learner, passionate about using technology to connect people, ideas and cultures. Investor turned entrepreneur, Nitzan is the co founder of Jolt, with the mission to disrupt adult education. Prior to Jolt, Nitzan was the investment manager at the early stage venture arm of Deutsche Telekom in Tel-Aviv, and Managing Director of “The Junction”, Israel’s first start-up accelerator. In 2016, Nitzan was named Forbes 30 under 30.
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About Jolt: Jolt is a network of learning spaces curated for people in the workforce seeking to gain a competitive business edge.
John Walker
Chief Operating Officer of Rhithm
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About ALDEA Pharmaceuticals, Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals, Rhithm: Rhithm is a wellness company currently serving K12 students, staff and administrators.
Kelly Mehrtens
Deputy Athletics Director and Chief Operating Officer of University of Maryland
Kelly Mehrtens is a passionate about her job as the current Deputy Athletics Director and Chief Operating Officer at the University of Maryland, where she continually is given opportunities to positively impact the lives of young adults, particularly student athletes. Prior to Kelly’s career at the University of Maryland, she received her undergraduate degree at the University of Alabama, and later received her master’s degree in Education from the University of Illinois in 2001. While she was earning her degrees, Mehrtens served in various positions in college athletic departments across the country. She was hired as the Assistant Athletics Director for Business and Finance at the University of Miami (Florida), the Associate Athletics Director at the University of Kansas, the Associate Athletics Director at the University of Illinois, and the Director of Athletics at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Over the last four years, Mehrtens’ responsibilities at the University of Maryland include leadership roles of both the internal and external operations departments and playing a vital part in helping Maryland shift smoothly into the Big Ten Conference. During the beginning of her career at the University of Maryland, Mehrtens took on many authoritative roles and supervised nine service units for the athletic department, which included strength and conditioning, championships, sports medicine, facilities, business operations, event operations, human resources, information technology, and equipment. In the summer of 2014, Mehrtens proved to be more than helpful in the external operations unit, specializing in marketing, social media, ticket operations, and communications. Under her supervision, Maryland’s attendance to ticketed fall sports showed a significant increase, particularly in sports like field hockey, football, men’s and women’s soccer, and volleyball. The overall season ticket sales went up 25 percent from 2013 and 35 percent from 2012, many thanks to Mehrtens’ positive influence in the external operations unit. Kelly Mehrtens has shown her strong, adaptive leadership roles in Maryland’s athletic department, where she has been recognized throughout many notable committees in the NCAA. These recognitions include the NCAA Division I Management Council, NCAA Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet, NCAA Track and Field Committee, and the NCAA Division I Academic/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet. Mehrtens’ determination to improve the athletic program and make a major impact on the lives of student athletes is nothing short of a profound achievement.
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About University of Maryland: The University of Maryland is a public research university and is the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland.
Khushboo Jain
Founder & COO of Impact Guru
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About Impact Guru: We’re a Harvard incubated crowdfunding platform for nonprofits, social enterprises, startups and individuals.
Kathryn Petrillo-Smith
Chief Operating Officer of Digital Promise
Prior to joining Digital Promise, Kathryn worked at the Association of Small Foundations, an organization dedicated to strengthening and inspiring small-staff philanthropy. During her nine year tenure at ASF she held a variety of positions, most recently Managing Director. Kathryn also worked in environmental policy at the Environmental Protection Agency, implementing innovative market-based mechanisms to reduce air pollution and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria. Kathryn holds an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management and a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Cornell University.
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About Digital Promise: Digital Promise provides support to advance technologies that can transform teaching and learning.
Lukas Grill
Founder and COO of Neolth
Lukas Grill is the COO and Founder of Neolth.
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About Neolth: On-demand, individualized mental health support for students
Adam J. Plotkin
Chief Operating Officer of EduSynch
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About EduSynch: EduSynch is a cloud-based assessment platform focused on affordable, and scalable, custom tests and language exams
Mary Nisbet
Founder and Chief Operating Officer of K16 Solutions
Mary’s business acumen spans her career in healthcare administration and higher education, with aggressive business development, focused strategic advancement, streamlined operations, and core process improvement that have generated and saved millions.
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About K16 Solutions: Technology Software and Solutions for Higher Ed
Chris Porter
President and Chief Operating Officer of PowerSchool
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About PowerSchool: PowerSchool develops cloud-based software for K-12 education, helping educators and students realize their full potential, in their way.
Grant Warner
Co-Founder & COO of ConnectYard
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About ConnectYard, Howard University, Howard University, XebiaLabs: ConnectYard offers a social engagement platform that enables users to communicate across multiple platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Alex Tsado
Co-Founder and COO of Ahura AI
Alex Tsado is the Co-Founder and COO at Ahura AI.
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About Ahura AI: Ahura AI, an EdTech startup using artificial intelligence to create personalized learning tools that replicate a 1-to-1 learning experience
Allison Nelson
Chief Operating Officer of Novel Effect
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About Novel Effect: Bringing people together, one story at a time.
Patrick Chamberlain
COO of Kangarootime
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About Kangarootime: Kangarootime is a software platform for connecting families to childcare providers.
Lee Borth
Chief Operating Officer of Age of Learning
Lee served as COO of NeoPets, Inc., from 2000 to 2006, overseeing the development of Neopets.com into one of the largest youth communities on the Internet. Lee spearheaded the company’s licensing, merchandising, and promotions activities, securing strategic relationships with companies such as Sony Computer Entertainment, McDonald’s, General Mills, and Wizards of the Coast. Prior to NeoPets, Lee was VP Business Development at The Dohring Company for more than eight years.
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About Age of Learning: Age of Learning provides a comprehensive and engaging online curriculum for pre-k, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school programs.
Ankit Dhir
Co-Founder, COO of Yellowbrick
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About Yellowbrick: Empowering the next generation of talent to achieve their calling by tapping into passion points
Andrey Teslenko
COO, Founder of Mishka AI
Andrey Teslenko is Founder & CEO at Labicom.
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About Mishka AI: Mishka AI is educational companion and kids content delivery platform in the shape of a traditional toy.
Keri Hoyt
President & COO of Noodle
Keri Hoyt is the President and COO at Noodle Partners Inc. She joins Noodle Partners from Success Academies, where she ran 34 high-performing elementary, middle, and high schools throughout New York City. Her career at The Princeton Review. During her 18-year tenure, she partnered with colleges and universities to help improve their marketing and admissions processes, helped build online programming, and honed her marketing and product-development skills.
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About Noodle: Noodle creates innovative online and hybrid programs while improving traditional classroom models.
Andrew Pohle
Co-Founder, COO of Real Time Cases
I am the Chief Operating Officer for Real Time Cases, Inc. Prior to joining Real Time Cases, I worked in Houston, TX for Benefit Concepts, Inc. There, I worked directly with brokerages and carriers where I gained an intimate and invaluable knowledge of the sales environment, customer service and satisfaction, building an organized business, and creating a brand. While in school, my favorite classes were those that inspired deep critical thinking explored through open discussion. It is my belief that experiential learning is the cornerstone of education and must be cultivated in order for students to achieve success in the professional environment. I hold a Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering from Lehigh University. As a business unit leader, I lead a cross-functional, geographically dispersed team that creates content for the core product. My expertise includes: • Managing day-to-day operations for the company • Business development and deal flow • Customer relationship management • Attracting/retaining new talent • Employee development, training, and mentorship • Managing transactions and investments
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About Real Time Cases: Real Time Cases is an EdTech publishing platform that connects businesses to higher education.
Marla Ballenger
Chief Operating Officer of IData
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About IData: Data Management for Higher Education
Gulin Yilmaz
COO of ScoreBeyond
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About ScoreBeyond: ScoreBeyond develops a test preparation and examination platform designed to help students prepare for standardized tests.
Gulin Yilmaz
COO of ScoreBeyond
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About ScoreBeyond: ScoreBeyond develops a test preparation and examination platform designed to help students prepare for standardized tests.
Alex Altman
Chief Operating Officer of Protoqual Learning Systems
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About Protoqual Learning Systems: Protoqual is a provider of healthcare education solutions to improve practitioner performance, patient satisfaction, and population health.
John Sandoval
Chief Operating Officer of ProctorU
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About ProctorU: ProctorU provides distance proctoring services using webcams and screen-sharing technology.
Fedoroff Ivan
Chief Operating Officer of GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL PARTNERS
Graduated from St. John’s University and Stony Brook University. He has over 10 years of teaching experience in mathematics, sociology and English / French at an international school. After establishing an English school, joined the GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL PARTNERS Co., Ltd. in May 2015 as a COO. New York teacher license holder.
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About GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL PARTNERS: Global Educational Partners is an Educational platform.
J. Jeffrey Geldermann
COO of Credentials Solutions
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About Credentials Solutions: Credentials Solutions offers streamlined, fully-developed technology solutions.
Maureen Peterson
President & COO of i3-Group
Maureen Peterson, recognized as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Professionals in the sector, has managed ARM operations in increasingly senior positions for the last 20 years. She has contributed and operated in all facets of debt collection – from first-party servicing to purchased debt collections in near-shore facilities. As President and Chief Operating Officer of Ceannate Corp., she is responsible for operations across all Company subsidiaries, including FMS’ Task Order operations for the U.S. Department of Education. Since joining Ceannate in 2008, she has led the Company through a period of unprecedented growth. The formation of i3 Group, followed shortly thereafter by the launch of IonTuition, effectively expanded the Company’s service offerings to higher education institutions with an emphasis on student-facing web services. Maureen is also a member of Ceannate’s Board of Directors. Prior to joining Ceannate, Maureen served as President of Van Ru Credit Corporation where she grew the organization to over 1,400 employees and top rankings across all competitive client contracts
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About i3-Group: i3-Group Helping students take control of education loans.
Derek Distenfield
Co-founder and COO of GSD Venture Studios
Derek Distenfield is the COO, CFO, and Co-founder of GSD Venture Studios. For over 15 years, he has blazed high impact careers in startups, corporate, and nonprofit organizations. Most recently, he launched and subsequently sold Cult Following, a successful growth marketing and brand building agency. Prior to this, he served as the Chief Operating Officer for 360 Payments, driving the people, processes, technology, marketing & finance for a $2 billion payments company. As the growth strategist behind Bunker Labs USA, he transformed a nonprofit serving veteran entrepreneurs into a premier national brand. He also ignited immediate growth in a highly regulated industry as CEO of NextGenJustice, a social enterprise startup that served as an alternative to traditional legal venues. As a founding visionary and chief evangelist, he developed a product that grew its consumer base 50% 17 of 18 months in business. Derek has been a keynote speaker at the Military Defense and Veterans Opportunities Summit, One Spark Innovation Conference, and International Conference on Business Incubation. He is also a mentor and startup business advisor for GrowthX, Google Pioneer Accelerator, and LifeFlip Media as well as a columnist for Forbes and a college lecturer at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Derek Distenfield is passionate about breaking barriers, leading innovation, and inspiring people to believe they can achieve. Known for bringing revolutionary new ideas to organizations that deliver explosive growth and for being efficient with limited resources, Derek’s high tolerance for ambiguity and complexity makes him an invaluable source of inspiration and advice for growth-oriented startups and founders. At GSD, Derek is the operational mastermind who brings a variety of resources together to best serve each portfolio company. Derek lives in Silicon Valley with his wife and two children, and travels frequently to Russia to work with GSD’s international client base.
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About GSD Venture Studios, Varwin: Venture studio specializing in helping resilient entrepreneurs #GoGlobal
Mike Johnson
COO of EVALS.NET
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About EVALS.NET: SaaS, Learning Management System for hands-on training.
Kim Piermattei
COO of Medicine in Practice
Kim is a litigation attorney and experienced entrepreneur with considerable operations skills with a strong focus on execution. During her active legal career she gained invaluable experience in influencing and reading juries as well as preparing witnesses and others to maximize their impact. With more than 20 years of legal experience, Kim founded White Rose Cafe & Catering (2002 to 2009 – sold). The catering business provided in-flight meals for senior executives flying in corporate jets owned by Fortune 50 companies. Kim is also a published author (“The Imam – Terror Unleashed”). She combines her invaluable legal experience with an engaging management style and an unflagging focus on operational execution.
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About Medicine in Practice: Medicine in Practice has been accepted as a presenting company at the influential Early Stage East Venture Conference.
Matthew Dyson
COO of Galvanize Labs
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About Galvanize Labs: Teaching Technology Subjects To K-12 via Accredited & Entertainment-Style Gameplay
Myles Gage
Chief Operating Officer of Rapunzl – Invest. Share. Win.
I am the co-founder of Rapunzl and an advocate for financial education especially for individuals in underserved communities. Attending Ariel Community Academy on Chicago’s south side exposed me to the stock market at a very young age, as financial literacy was the crux of its curriculum. That’s why, subsequent to graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, I developed Rapunzl with my highschool friend, Brian Curcio. Together we designed and developed an app that addresses the three roadblocks that prohibit many from understanding the stock market: fear, exposure, and accessibility. We decided to provide users with a risk-free, $10,000 simulated portfolio in order to eliminate the fear we all first feel when we look at the stock market. We then increased exposure by working with high schools and colleges and providing weekly, monthly, and (soon) annual competitions for cash prizes! Finally we made the stock market accessible by integrating social media into our simulator. Users can connect with their friends, share how they trade, and discuss their investment strategies. People need game-based learning tools which simulate the real world and contexualize their learning if they are ever to learn how to properly invest. Rapunzl provides an incentive to learn, a place to share findings, and a risk-free community to make mistakes along the way. By partnering with UrbanX Learning, I oversee the Financial Pathways initiative in which Rapunzl lends its technology to make an impact in some of the nations most underserved communities. Financial Pathways offers scholarships, mentoring, and financial fluency tools to combat our financial illiteracy crisis and make success obtainable for all students, regardless of their background.
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About Rapunzl – Invest. Share. Win.: Rapunzl is an award-winning app that allows you to earn cash & scholarship prizes while you learn how to invest.
Maria Clara Prieto
Co-founder, COO of Golondrix
Maria Clara Prieto is co-founder of Golondrix, an EdTech startup recently established in USA and part of a startup accelerator program in New York. Her background has been focused in Marketing and Sales, working in different industries such as banks, manufacturing and retail companies. Parallel, she has been passionate about entrepreneurship, turning ideas into businesses. As soon as she finished her MBA in Barcelona, Spain, she went back to Colombia, her home country, and co-founded her own company, TopList a home-goods-online retailer. Further, she joined with her also partner of her first venture and a third person and co-founded Golondrix, an artificial intelligence powered search engine for higher education programs. Oriented towards achievements, multidisciplinary teamwork focused on results, and in multicultural environments.
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About Golondrix: Search engine for higher education programs and online courses (MOOC) powered by machine learning.
Matt Squillaro
COO of the Roadmap
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About the Roadmap: the Roadmap, an interactive preparation platform, uses technology to deliver customizable content and a learning approach for students.
Amy Looper
Co-Founder and COO of OneSeventeen Media
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About OneSeventeen Media: reThinkIt! provides highly effective accessible mental well-being at scale for both parents and their kids.
Heather Wetzler
Co Founder and COO of Cue Career
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About Cue Career: Career navigation and workforce development platform connecting students to industry associations.
Edward Khoukaz
Cofounder and COO of Class Composer
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About Class Composer: Software service to help elementary schools create positive learning environments.
Ed Powers
Chief Operating Officer of RefactorU
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-powers-ab5315
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About RefactorU: RefactorU accelerates the learning and development of the world’s aspiring creatives, makers, and technologists.
Christopher Neu
COO of TechChange
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About George Washington University, TechChange: TechChange provides technology training for social change.
Christopher Neu
COO of TechChange
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About George Washington University, TechChange: TechChange provides technology training for social change.
Jill Burroughs
Chief Operating Officer of Certiverse
Jill Burroughs is the Chief Operating Officer of Certiverse.
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About Certiverse: Certiverse leverages proprietary technology and proven, economic-based crowdsourcing models to develop high-quality certification exams.
Lital Helman
Co-Founder & COO of GradTrain
Legal academician and Israeli-accredited lawyer, specializes in Intellectual Property Law and Cyber Law. Prior to her legal education, Lital taught C++ programming courses at “Hacker Software,” Israel. Lital pursued her Master’s and Doctorate degrees at the University of Pennsylvania Law School as a Fulbright scholar, and her post-doctoral fellowship at Columbia University Law School. Lital’s articles have been published in the USA and internationally, and she has served as an expert advisor on international Intellectual Property litigation.
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About GradTrain: GradTrain aims to guide prospective international graduate students.
Anthony Alves
COO of Curveu
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About Curveu: Curveu lets you manage your grades like mint.com manages your money.
Anthony Alves
COO of Curveu
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About Curveu: Curveu lets you manage your grades like mint.com manages your money.
