Founding Advisors

Six founding advisors. Hundreds more behind them.

Our founding advisors are the first tier of a network spanning hundreds of Ivy League, venture capital and institutional investment advisors — all backing our founders and students.

Julie Liu

Executive Director & Institutional Advisor

Julie brings visionary leadership and deep commitment to education entrepreneurship and innovation. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from UC Berkeley, an MBA in Analytic Finance and Marketing from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a Master of Science in Education Entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.

Educational Leadership
Education Entrepreneurship
Strategic Planning
Analytic Finance

Nicholas Fok

Technology & Venture Advisor / CTO

Nick brings deep experience building technology and decision systems at the intersection of artificial intelligence, capital markets, and scalable product design. His background spans institutional investment leadership and applied AI product development, including enterprise-grade agentic workflows and retrieval systems at OWL AI. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Analytic Finance and Econometrics), a Master of Financial Engineering from Illinois Tech, and a BSc in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

AI & Agentic Workflows
Capital Markets
Institutional Investment
Financial Engineering

Jenny Zapf, Ph.D.

Board Member & Pedagogical Innovation Advisor

Dr. Zapf is a Senior Fellow and Founding Director of the world's first MSEd and MSEd-MBA in Education Entrepreneurship at the Graduate School of Education and the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. She serves as Faculty Director of Penn's Global Education Entrepreneurship & Innovation program and has served as program and research advisor on entrepreneurial projects in 30 countries, training thousands of industry leaders.

Education Entrepreneurship
Global Innovation
Strategic Development
Pedagogy

Rita Ferrandino

Board Member & Venture Advisor

Rita brings decades of experience in educational leadership, venture development, and investment. She is Founding Partner of Arc Capital Development and Innovation Consultant for Catalyst@PennGSE at the University of Pennsylvania. Internationally recognized as a dynamic strategist and coalition-builder across K-12, Higher Ed, and Workforce Development, specializing in investment alignment, revenue acceleration, and transformative growth.

Venture Capital & Investment Alignment
Educational Strategy
Transformative Growth
Partnerships

David Fu

Entrepreneurship & AI Coach / GTM Advisor

David is an education entrepreneur and builder who has launched and scaled mission-driven organizations across the US and Africa, including co-founding Streetlight Schools and scaling a pan-African developer talent marketplace. He leads Learning By Design, helping teams automate workflows and leverage AI. He holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Georgia and teaches in the Education Entrepreneurship program at UPenn GSE.

Startup Coaching
Go-to-Market Strategy
AI & Automation
Product Development

Roger Osorio

Mentor, Coach & Executive Advisor

Roger is an Ivy League professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, executive coach, best-selling author, and host of The School of Reinvention podcast. An international keynote speaker (CES, The World Bank, Google) and Techstars startup mentor, he specializes in guiding founders to turn authentic passion into high-impact, real-world ventures.

Entrepreneurship
Startup Mentorship
Public Speaking
Executive Coaching

100s

of advisors in our network

Beyond our founding six, every founder and student gains access to a growing network of hundreds of advisors across academia, venture and institutional finance.

Ivy League Advisors

Faculty and alumni from Penn, Wharton and peer institutions.

Venture Capital Advisors

Partners who have sourced, led and scaled early-stage deals.

Institutional Investment Advisors

Leaders from top funds guiding strategy, diligence and growth.

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If you're an investor, academic or operator who wants to mentor the next generation of founders and students, we'd love to hear from you.