Advisory Council
The Stanford Digital Education Advisory Council provides an essential complement to our work by ensuring that we are informed and challenged by the ideas and experience of leaders in technology, business, education, and finance. The council supports our efforts to transform learning, prepare for the future, and ensure that our progress reflects the values and needs of our community.
Jean-Claude Brizard
Jean-Claude Brizard is president and CEO of Digital Promise Global, a global nonprofit organization focused on shaping the future of learning and advancing equitable education systems by bridging solutions across research, practice, and technology. He is former senior advisor and deputy director at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he focused on PK-16 education. The Carnegie Corporation of New York honored him in the 2023 class of “Great Immigrants, Great Americans,” which celebrates naturalized citizens who have enriched and strengthened our society. He is former chief executive of Chicago Public Schools. Prior to his appointment in Chicago, he was superintendent of schools for the Rochester, New York, School District. His experience also includes a 21-year career as an educator and administrator with the NYC Department of Education. He served as a regional superintendent, supervising more than 100 schools in the borough of Brooklyn, and he also served as the system’s executive director for its 400 secondary schools. He received a bachelor's in chemistry and master's degree in science teacher education from Queens College, New York, and a master's degree in educational administration and supervision from the City University of New York.
Kim Caldbeck
Kim Caldbeck is a seasoned full-stack marketer with deep experience helping mission-driven tech companies nail their product market fit and build differentiated go-to-market engines and teams to scale. She is currently an operating advisor for Bessemer Venture Partners and other firms, as well as serving as a director on the boards of a number of companies. Previously she was chief marketing officer at Coursera, where she helped grow revenue by more than five times and was part of the leadership team taking the company through its IPO. Before that, she worked at Facebook, where she initiated brand and performance consumer marketing campaigns in over 60 markets and assisted advertisers in brand building. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and three children. She received a BA in sociology and psychology from Harvard University in 2005 and an MBA from Stanford in 2010.
Jennifer Carolan
Jennifer Carolan is co-founder and partner at Reach Capital, where she has established a series of funds that support edtech innovators. She started her career as a classroom teacher in Chicago, where she taught history for seven years in district schools. She moved to Silicon Valley in 2000 to attend Stanford Graduate School of Education. She worked at NewSchools Venture Fund for nine years, and she co-created and taught the popular course Innovations In Teaching at Stanford University for three years. Jennifer is on the spring 2024 teaching team for Lean Launchpad (ENGR 245) at Stanford. She has sat on the boards of Nearpod, Ellevation Education, Desmos, Outschool, BetterLesson, and BookNook, and is heavily involved in TeachFX, Derivata, and Sketchy. She received a BA in political science from Loyola University in 1997 and an MA in curriculum and teacher education from Stanford in 2006.
James Deutsch
James Deutsch serves as co-CEO of Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co., a New York–based money management firm focused on growth investing. He is a trustee of Semester at Sea, the Trinity School, and New York University Law School. He and his wife Tina have two daughters and live in New York City. James received a BA in economics with a minor in computer science from Stanford in 2000.
Nelson Hsu
Nelson Hsu is senior vice president for innovation at Academic Partnerships, an online platform management company dedicated to expanding access to affordable, workforce-relevant high-quality education by partnering with universities. He has been involved in strategy, launching new products and services, artificial intelligence and data analytics, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate development. Additionally, he helped start “Dallas Kids First,” which helps find and support qualified school board members in Dallas Independent School District. He has served as president and board member of Stanford Alumni Association's Dallas Fort Worth Club. He currently lives in Dallas with his wife and his two sons. Nelson received a BS and an MS, both in industrial engineering, from Stanford in 1991 and 1993, respectively; he earned an MBA from Northwestern University in 1999.
Andrew Kwan
Andrew Kwan is founder and CEO of Perigee, a software company building creation tools for the next-generation Internet. Previously, he co-founded the companies Outwhiz and Edore, both of which developed online education platforms for K-12 students. He lives in Hong Kong with his wife and two children. Andrew received a BA in economics from Harvard in 2000; an MS in management science and engineering from Stanford in 2002; and an MS in computer science, also from Stanford, in 2006.
Lark Park
Lark Park is the director of the California Education Learning Lab, a state-funded grantmaking organization charged with improving learning outcomes and closing equity gaps across California’s public higher education segments. She has served on the University of California Board of Regents since June 2017. She has more than two decades of state policy experience in the executive and legislative branches. She was senior advisor and deputy legislative secretary for Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., and before that worked as a policy consultant for the California State Legislature. Her policy fields include higher education, workforce, childcare/early learning, health, and human services. Prior to her roles in state government, she worked in business/technology journalism and management and technology consulting. She also served in the White House under President Bill Clinton. She lives in Sacramento with her husband and two children. Lark holds a BA in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA in English from Georgetown University.
Jared Parker
Jared Parker is co-head of North America for Oaktree Capital Management's Global Opportunities strategy and leads many of the team’s investing efforts across the infrastructure, energy, transportation, and logistics sectors. Jared lives in New York City with his wife and two daughters. He received a BA in international relations from Stanford in 2004.
Daniel Pianko
Daniel Pianko is a managing director at Achieve Partners, a leading social impact investment firm focusing on workforce development and job placement. With over a decade of experience in the education industry, Daniel has built a reputation as a trusted education adviser and innovator in student finance, medical education, and postsecondary education. A frequent commentator on higher education, Daniel’s insights have been featured in national media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, TechCrunch, Inside Higher Ed, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. He began his career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs, and quickly became intrigued by the potential of leveraging private capital to establish the next generation of socially beneficial education companies. After leaving Goldman, he invested in, founded, advised, or managed a number of education-related businesses that led to his cofounding University Ventures, where he was managing director. He received a BA from Columbia University in 1998, and an MA in education plus an MBA from Stanford in 2004.
Carol Quillen
Carol Quillen served for 11 years, until 2022, as president of Davidson College, where she remains on the faculty as a professor of history. She is a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute and a trustee of the National Humanities Center and Princeton University. Before joining Davidson, Carol was a professor and administrator at Rice University for over 20 years. Her experience also includes past terms on the boards of the American Council on Education (Washington, DC), the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art (Charlotte, NC), the nonprofit organization Credential Engine, and the Levine Museum of the New South (Charlotte, NC). In 2014 President Barack Obama appointed her to the Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans. Carol holds a BA in American history from the University of Chicago and a PhD in European history from Princeton.
Daniel Reyes
Daniel Reyes has led Emerson Collective’s education philanthropy since 2021. Under Daniel’s leadership, Emerson’s grantmaking aims to strengthen America’s public high schools, particularly the teaching of math and civics; helps grow and support a diverse and effective teaching corps; and opens pathways to and through college for all students. Prior to joining Emerson Collective, he was a senior managing director at Teach For America, where his team helped lead the organization’s growth strategy and fund development. Throughout his career, he has worked with social entrepreneurs in the education space, including leading edtech investment for the nation’s first student-led impact investing fund. He also served in a senior leadership role at RaiseMe, a college affordability startup that was named one of the "World’s Most Innovative Companies" by Fast Company. Daniel received a BA in economics from Stanford in 2002 and an MBA from the University of Michigan in 2012.
Ravi Sarin
Ravi Sarin is co-head and partner at AEA Growth Capital. He co-leads the overall strategy and direction of the firm, in addition to leading deal teams focused on the sourcing, evaluation, and management of AEA Growth’s portfolio companies. Prior to AEA Growth, Ravi was the founder and managing partner of ROCA Partners, a growth equity investment firm focused on tech-enabled services and healthcare services companies. Previously, he was a principal in the Private Equity Group at Ares Management. At Ares, Ravi helped lead investments in healthcare services; retail; and gaming, lodging and leisure. Prior to Ares, Ravi was a private equity investor at Bain Capital and a consultant at Bain & Company. Ravi received both a BS in electrical engineering and an MS in management science and engineering from Stanford in 2003, and an MBA from Harvard in 2009.
Samantha Wang
Samantha Wang is co-founder and general partner at RPS Ventures, a late-stage venture capital firm in Palo Alto. Samantha leads the firm’s strategy and investing efforts across all areas of technology. Prior to founding RPS, Samantha was a partner at Crosslink Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley. Previously, Samantha spent more than 10 years as a marketing executive, and was most recently a director at LegalZoom, a leading provider of online legal services. Earlier in her career, she was a venture investor at 3i Group, and she started her career as a technology investment banker at Deutsche Bank. Samantha currently lives in Portola Valley with her husband and two children. She received a BA in economics from Stanford in 2002.