Todd Maurer, Founder & CEO
Todd Maurer is a seasoned entrepreneur, corporate advisor, analyst and banker with 20+ years of experience across the US and Emerging Markets. He is Founder & CEO of Edunomix, LLC, a global advisory firm focused on education and human capital industries, and currently CEO of Versatile PhD, a leading career technology platform for many of the world’s top research universities and graduate students. He is also a partner at Educated Ventures LLC.
Todd brings significant experience across Asia, the Americas, Europe and Africa, where he has worked across higher education (public, private, proprietary), K12, EdTech, language training, professional development and workforce ventures. He has represented client engagements ranging from the world’s leading companies and multinationals to universities, government agencies, investment funds, middle market enterprises and start-ups.
Todd has represented client engagements ranging from Fortune 2000 companies to leading universities, start-ups and global investment funds. He was previously VP of Corporate Development for Asia at Apollo Global, a $1 billion education venture formed in 2007 by Apollo Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) and Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) with operations in 14 countries. Prior to this he was Partner at Lotus Asset Management Limited, a Hong Kong-based hedge fund and alternative investment firm, conducting investment research across Asia and Australia. He spent his early career in the Asia-Pacific working in senior corporate finance and equity research positions at Peregrine Investments Holdings Limited based in Beijing, Seoul and Hong Kong. He also toiled as a trade economist with KOTRA, a Korean government agency.
Member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, an affiliate of the Council on Foreign Relations. Educated at Columbia University (M.I.A, International Economics), Peking University, Nanjing University and UCLA (B.A. Economics).
Chris Nyren, Senior Advisor
Christopher is the founder of Educated Ventures, an education industry advisory and seed investment firm that has successfully raised and invested over $70 million across a dozen separate client capital raises and direct investments, while also advising four clients with successful M&A processes. He initially founded the firm in 2012 around several consulting clients, including Bertelsmann AG, one of the largest media and publishing companies in the world, as well as the Gates Foundation, one of the largest foundations in the world, around their respective evaluations of potential investments and market entry plans within the global education market. The firm has grown to become a leading investment banking and advisory boutique focused on the emerging education markets.
Christopher serves on the boards of GetSet and Wellspring Education and is an investor in All Campus, cielo24, Copley Retention, DecisionDesk, GetSet Learning, Learning.com, N2N and Presence Learning.
He has also founded Educelerate, a not-for-profit network to foster start-up ventures focused on education technology and innovation. They have held monthly events involving a membership base of over 3,000 Educelerants in Chicago, Twin Cities, Los Angeles and Colorado and have partnered with Education Entrepreneurs (now 4.0 Schools) to organize Startup Weekend Education events in Chicago, Twin Cities, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Podcasts and blog content can be found at Educelerate.com.
Christopher spent the prior four years helping to build the Corporate Development & Global Strategy team for Apollo Education Group, the owner of the University of Phoenix and largest for-profit educational company in the world. During this time, Christopher was involved in the creation of Apollo Global, a $1 billion joint venture private equity fund with the Carlyle Group. Over his career at Apollo, he was the primary corporate development professional on every acquisition and investment completed by the company and the fund (totaling four domestic and international deals and over $750 million of aggregate consideration). This experience included his leadership of Apollo’s European Corporate Development efforts which culminated in the $600 million acquisition of the UK post-secondary education company BPP Holdings plc.
He has also worked in private equity, including interning with the education and services focused investors LLR Partners where he completed an investment in a vocational post-secondary education company. He started his career with the education and services coverage team at investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston. Christopher graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Lake Forest College and received his MBA from the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania.
Joe Arangio, Senior Advisor
Joe has worked across education’s public, non-profit and proprietary sectors at both the K-12 and higher education levels. His previously roles include Chief Operating Officer in North America for Cambridge Education Group, Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance for Quincy College, and Director of Strategic School Planning for the Archdiocese of Boston’s network of 120 schools that enrolled 41,000 K-12 students. Joe has most recently advised and represented Thomas International, a UK-based provider of assessment services for colleges and universities.
His experience includes creating, establishing and operating schools and programs geared-toward international students seeking to matriculate into US universities’ undergraduate degree programs. Joe has helped: establish a new, scratch-built international boarding school whose enrollment grew from 0 to 430 students in 48 months; create international pathway programs in partnership with universities in California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts and Rhode Island; and ensure ongoing compliance with all laws, regulations, policies and accreditation standards governing such programs.
Joe holds a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University, a Master of Science from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts from Salve Regina University. He has also studied at Baylor University and the University of Southern California.
Jason Schrott, Senior Advisor
Jason is widely recognized for his leadership in international education and professional mentorship. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of Savio8 Partners, an education development advisory and mentorship provider. He has held senior leadership positions at some of the world’s largest and most innovative education organizations including as a Chief Executive Officer. Jason worked as an investment banker on Wall Street as well as established and managed a Sino-US joint venture company. Throughout his career he has worked for private and publicly traded firms. With over 25 years’ experience, he brings extensive expertise covering new business development, leadership development, start-ups, online & campus-based education and global management.