Thursday, November 4, 2021
Michael Tedori
The Wharton Club of Southern California and The Wharton Club of Philadelphia invite you to join us for a panel discussion led by very distinguished professionals in the field of education discussing, "The Future of Education".
Erika James, Dean of The Wharton School, will introduce the event.
Serguei Netessine, Wharton Professor and Senior Vice Dean for Innovation and Global Initiatives, will serve as moderator.
Panelists: Ashley Bittner of Firework Ventures, Kim Kolt of For Good Ventures, Sergio Abramovich of Ingenious Schools, and Neel Broker of Inspara Ventures.
Discussion Topics Include: Exciting new trends that are happening in K-12, Post Secondary Education, Workforce Development, investing in education, the impact of EdTech, using education to solve pressing challenges such as climate change, and much more!
Event Timeline: 15 minutes of Introductions & Keynote Dean James, ~40 minutes of Panel Discussion, and 20 minutes of Breakout Rooms led by distinguished panelists.
Cost: Wharton members are free
Non members are $20
Keynote: Erika James, Dean, The Wharton School
Erika H. James became the dean of the Wharton School on July 1, 2020. Trained as an organizational psychologist, Dean James is a leading expert on crisis leadership, workplace diversity and management strategy. Prior to her appointment at Wharton, Dean James was the John H. Harland Dean at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School from 2014 to 2020. An award-winning educator, accomplished consultant and researcher, she is the first woman and first person of color to be appointed dean in Wharton’s 139-year history. As such she has paved the way for women in leadership both in education and corporate America. Dean James has been instrumental in developing groundbreaking executive education programs, including the Women’s Leadership program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School.
Moderator: Serguei Netessine, Wharton Professor and Senior Vice Dean for Innovation and Global Initiatives
Serguei Netessine is Senior Vice Dean for Innovation and Global Initiatives and Dhirubhai Ambani Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He lived, taught, and worked with companies in the USA, Russia, France and Singapore. His current research focuses on business model innovation and operational excellence, and he worked on these topics with numerous organizations around the world. He is an active angel-investor in technology startups, and he serves on advisory boards of multiple ventures around the world. He recently served on The Future of the Economy Committee of Singapore government, is a Founding Member of Responsible Research in Business & Management Network (http://rrbm.network), advisor to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation of Digital Education Technologies, and a Scholar at Amazon.
Panelists:
Ashey Bittner
Ashley Bittner is a Founding Partner of Firework Ventures, an early-stage venture fund investing in the future of work. Ashley invests in companies that create opportunity and mobility. Ashley brings both private and public sector experience to early-stage companies.
Kim Kolt
Kim Kolt is the Founder & President of For Good Ventures, a family office investment firm that invests in technologies solving critical problems for humanity and the environment. She is fundamentally passionate about technologies that contribute to saving lives and reversing climate change.
Sergio Abramovich
Sergio Abramovich has worked in international education for the last 30 years. The mission and values of Ingenious Schools are a reflection of his myriad experiences connecting with and experiencing people of all different cultures and backgrounds, and the importance of bringing that opportunity to young people who may not otherwise have access. Sergio hails from a mid-sized city in Argentina and from an early age, he found himself boldly curious about life and people beyond the borders of his city. At 21, he took his first long-distance trip on scholarship to study in Japan. Upon graduating university in Argentina, he began a career in banking. He then traveled to the United States to complete his MBA at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, after which he started his formal career in education.
Neel Broker, WG02
Neel Broker is the Founder of Inspara Partners - an EdTech and Workforce focused investment and advisory platform. He is also President - AsiaPac of Cintana Education, a global university services platform setup in partnership with Arizona State University. He previously served as CEO of Laureate Education's Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific business. This operation grew to become the world’s largest private higher education operation outside the Americas. Over 12 years at Laureate Education, Neel served as Global Head of Strategy and M&A, CEO for India, and SVP of Asia Business Development. He represented Laureate on the board of Coursera as an observer, and on the boards of numerous higher education organizations. Earlier in his career, he was a Private Equity investor in Hong Kong and New York at Merrill Lynch, Sterling Partners, and ICV Capital Partners. He started his career as an Investment Banker with Deutsche Bank in New York and London, and then was a strategy consultant with McKinsey in South-East Asia and New York. Neel has a Masters degree from BITS Pilani in India and an MBA from Wharton. Neel is based in the Washington DC area.
Host:
Michael Tedori, C'08 WG15
Michael Tedori has over 15 years of principal investing & business development experience at venture backed start-ups and private equity companies. He currently leads the strategy & business development efforts at Enterplast, Inc., a specialty rubber & plastics firm, located in Houston, Texas. Michael graduated from the College of Arts & Sciences with a concentration in East Asian Studies and earned an MBA from The Wharton School.
