Our Team

Lydia Dobyns was the  Co-CEO of New Tech Network, a leading design partner for comprehensive school change. During her career, she has been a technology entrepreneur and executive and also worked in education policy and in the nonprofit sector. Dobyns and CEO of Getting Smart, Tom Vander Ark, are co-authors of Better Together: How to Leverage School Networks For Smarter Personalized and Project Based Learning.

Her entrepreneurial and executive career features work in the high tech, online services, consumer products and health care industries. She graduated with a B.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley.

Emily McGinty is a Managing Director at A-Street. Prior to A-Street, Emily was a Director at TA Associates where she spent more than a decade investing in and working with private growth companies. Previously, she was an investment banking analyst at J.P. Morgan. Emily currently sits on the board of Coursemojo, Navia Benefit Solutions and Healix and is on the Advisory Committee for The Aspire Program of Hathaway Brown School.

Emily received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston College, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude, and her MBA from Stanford Business School. Emily lives in Menlo Park.

Liam Pisano is a Managing Partner at EduLab Capital Partners. Prior to co-founding EduLab Capital Partners, Liam was the Managing Director at LearnLaunch, an early-stage education technology investment platform, and co-working space. There he managed all LearnLaunch investment activity and drove domestic and international strategy for the organization. He has over 16 years of direct investing experience, holding investment professional positions at Spectrum Equity Investors, Hercules Capital, and Patriot Capital. He also co-founded one of the first MOOC’s for student use, Academic Earth, which was named as Time Magazine top websites of 2009 and was eventually sold to an ABRY Partners portfolio company.

Liam received his B.A. in Political Science from Williams College, where he was a member of the two time National Championship Division III cross country team. He received his M.B.A from Yale University where he was a founding member of the Yale Economic Review.  He is a proud 21-year member of the Big Brothers Association of Massachusetts, a two-time big brother and former Big Brother of the Year. 

Eileen Rudden is the co- founder of LearnLaunch, a Boston-based organization dedicated to connecting, supporting, and growing the education technology ecosystem to drive innovation and transform learning. Most recently, she served as Chief Officer, College and Career Preparation, at Chicago Public Schools and is a member of the board of directors of Education Pioneers, The Achievement Network, and KnowledgeWorks.

Ms. Rudden has been a leader in software technology for over 30 years. She led the Unified Communications Division of Avaya, a Fortune 500 global business communications leader and was SVP and GM of Lotus Notes, which was acquired by IBM. She was CEO of FairMarket, Inc., and started her career at The Boston Consulting Group. Eileen received her MBA from Harvard Business School, and her BA from Brown University, where she served as a Trustee and is currently Chair of the Advisory Committee on Computing and Information Technology.

Barry Schuler is Managing Director of DFJ Growth and the former Chairman/CEO of America Online Inc. He is credited with being one of the pioneers of the modern Internet. As an entrepreneur for more than 30 years, Barry propelled innovations in digital media, e-commerce, design, and video games. He was a member of the senior management team that scaled AOL from $1B to $200B in market cap during 20 consecutive quarters of growth. Barry co-founded the DFJ Growth Fund in 2006 and is actively involved with its investments which include Twitter, Tumblr, SolarCity, SpaceX, and Tesla Motor Company. He serves on the board of directors for Good Technology, Foursquare, Coinbase, Raydiance Inc., Synthetic Genomics, and SCIenergy.

Mr. Schuler is an active philanthropist focused on educational activities. He co-founded Blue Oak School, Napa valley’s only K-8 independent progressive school, and has guided the expansion and growth of New Tech Network, where he currently serves as Chairman.

Barry graduated with a BA from Rutgers University and is a member of its Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

John L. S. Simpkins is an executive with the Greenville Health System in South Carolina, where he leads collaborative, evidence-based efforts to promote health innovation and equity. He also is a Senior Lecturer at Duke Law School.

John was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in the Obama Administration where he served as general counsel for the U.S. Agency for International Development and deputy general counsel for the White House Office of Management and Budget. Before that, he was of counsel with Wyche, P.A., visiting assistant professor of law at the University of Victoria, and a Fellow at Charleston School of Law.

He continues to work as a consultant and researcher in comparative constitutional law and constitutional design. John received his B.A. in government from Harvard College and a J.D. and L.L.M. in international and comparative law from Duke University School of Law. He is a Fellow of the fourth class of Liberty Fellowship.

Renata Soto is a Costa Rican-born social entrepreneur based in Nashville, TN. She is a 2020-2021 fellow at Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, where she is launching Mosaic Changemakers, a nonprofit organization seeking to elevate, support, and connect Black, Latinx, and other leaders of color in the American South who are advancing social, economic and racial justice. Mosaic aspires to build a Black/Brown/Gold network of mutual support and collaboration.

Until May 2019 she led Conexión Américas, the nonprofit organization she co-founded in 2002 to serve Tennessee’s Latinx and other immigrant communities. She was the visionary behind Casa Azafrán, a nonprofit collaborative established in 2012 and nationally recognized as a model for nonprofit innovation, collaboration, and placemaking. Even President Obama took noticed and visited Casa Azafrán to host a town hall on immigration policy in 2014.

Nationally, Renata served for 10 years on the board of directors, and as chair from 2015-2018, of UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. Currently, she serves as board chair of its sister organization, UnidosUS Action Fund, which works to expand the influence and political power of the Latino community. She studied Communications at the University of Costa Rica and attended Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, which is what brought her to the US in 1993.

Chad P. Wick is a business, education, and nonprofit leader, and was the Founding President and Chief Executive Officer at KnowledgeWorks Foundation from 1998 until 2013, where he supported the growth of New Tech Network to more than 130 schools nationwide.

Mr. Wick has also served as the President, Chief Executive Officer, and Board member of institutions including Ameritrust, Southern Ohio Bank, and Shawnee Life Insurance Co. Mr. Wick currently serves as a Director at ACT, Inc. Mr. Wick also served as the Chair of Education Transition for Ohio Governor Dr. Ted Strickland.

Mr. Wick is a Veteran of the U.S. Air Force and has participated in the Army War College’s Strategic Leadership Forum at Columbia University. He has been accorded many awards for education achievement in Ohio and nationally and has received Honorary Doctorates from both the University of Cincinnati and Youngstown State University. Mr. Wick received an MBA with high honors from Thunderbird Graduate School and a BS degree from the University of Cincinnati.