Our Board
Luis von Ahn | Chair
Luis is the co-founder and CEO of Duolingo, a language-learning platform bringing free language education to the world. He co-created CAPTCHA, was named a MacArthur Fellow, and sold two companies to Google in his 20s. Luis is a board member of the U.S. Foundation of the University of the Valley of Guatemala. He is a former computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University and has received numerous accolades, including inclusion on the list of 10 Most Brilliant Scientists by Popular Science magazine and Top Young Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review.
Angela Duckworth | Co-Founder, Chief Scientist, and Board Member
In her late twenties, Angela left a demanding job as a management consultant to teach math to seventh graders in the New York City public schools. Several years in the classroom taught her that effort was tremendously important to success. To begin to solve the mystery of why some people work so much harder and longer than others, Angela entered the PhD program in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is now a professor and 2013 MacArthur Fellow. With Dave Levin and Dominic Randolph, she founded Character Lab with the aim of advancing scientific insights that help kids thrive. Her Tip of the Week is published every Sunday morning. You can subscribe here.
Read more at angeladuckworth.com.
Jackie Bezos | Board Member
Jackie is the president and co-founder of the Bezos Family Foundation. Through investments in research, public awareness, and programs, the foundation aims to elevate the field of education and improve life outcomes for children. Jackie serves on the boards for the American Museum of Natural History, the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, Robin Hood, and Thrive by Five Washington. She is also an advisor to TED-Ed and the Global Nomads Group.
Dave Levin | Co-Founder and Board Member
Dave co-founded the Knowledge is Power Program, which led to the successful network of KIPP Schools. In addition to KIPP, Dave co-founded Relay Graduate School of Education, Character Lab, Zearn, nXu, and Together Education. He currently works at the KIPP Foundation, where he focuses on instructional innovation, leadership development, and teacher training. Dave’s work is the subject of Jay Mathews’s best-selling book, Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America, and he has also been awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, among other honors.
Chris North | Board Member
Chris is a London-based technology CEO, investor, advisor, and mentor. He serves as a managing partner at L Catterton, a consumer-technology growth equity fund. Previously, Chris led Shutterfly, Amazon UK, and Phaidon Press. He and his wife actively support several U.S.- and U.K.-based museums and education nonprofits.
Dominic A.A. Randolph | Co-Founder and Board Member
Dominic is the head of school at Riverdale Country School, a pre-K–12 independent school in New York City. He is the founder of Plussed+, a learning-experience design studio based at Riverdale. Dominic is a steering committee member of the International Positive Education Network, a board member of the Mastery Transcript Consortium, and a member of the leadership team of nXu. Previously, Dominic worked in a variety of teaching and administrative roles in schools in Europe and the Middle East. His work has focused on curriculum development, character development, and positive psychology.
Jim Shelton | Board Member
Jim is the chief investment and impact officer at Blue Meridian Partners, a nonprofit organization. Jim has held various roles to help make a positive impact in the field of education. He was formerly the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, president of education for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and chief impact officer at the education technology company 2U. Currently, he is a senior social impact advisor to KKR and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. He serves on the boards of Duolingo, Code for America, and Campaign for Black Male Achievement.
Piyush Tantia | Board Member
Piyush is the chief innovation officer and a board member at ideas42, a nonprofit organization that uses behavioral economics to address complex social issues. Piyush is a Causal Inference Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. Previously, he was a partner at the strategy consulting firm Oliver Wyman Financial Services.
Bridget Terry Long | Board Member
Bridget is the dean and Saris Professor of Education and Economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Passionate about addressing educational inequity, Bridget focuses her research on the transition from high school to higher education and beyond. She is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the National Academy of Education, and a fellow at the International Academy of Education. She also serves on the board of MDRC and the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness.
Erica Dewan | Emeritus Board Member
Erica runs a private foundation focused on education reform and healthcare. She serves on the boards of KIPP NYC and The Columbia University Medical Center. Previously, Erica founded a family-owned real estate investment company and worked at Teach For America and McKinsey & Company. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and holds a Masters degree from the NYU Wagner School of Public Service.
Feroz Dewan | Founding Board Chair, Emeritus Board Member
Feroz is CEO of Arena Holdings Management, an investment holding company. He previously ran the Public Equity funds at Tiger Global Management. Prior to Tiger Global, Feroz was a private equity investor at Silver Lake Partners and a consultant at McKinsey & Company. He studied engineering and mathematics at Princeton University and additionally serves on the Boards of the Arena Foundation, the Tiger Foundation, and Teach For America–New York.