The EdStarter Team
The EdStarter team joined together at the Kellogg School of Management after realizing their shared passion for and experience with education and economic justice. With diverse, personal backgrounds in the fields of teaching, higher education, technology, economic justice, financial services and strategic development, our founders have seen firsthand the importance of ensuring opportunities exist for those who have been incarcerated.
Babatunde Oladosu
Co-Founder, Finance & Operations
Babatunde Oladosu is the VP of Finance and Operations. Baba brings in essential operational and entrepreneurial experience having co-founded an organization that supports students to transition into the workforce in Africa. He also has extensive experience in financial services, having worked at PwC, Goldman Sachs and Microsoft.
Josh Nathan
Co-Founder, Learning & Technology
Josh Nathan is the VP of Learning and Technology, leading curriculum development, skills training and product for EdStarter. Josh brings learning expertise, having previously worked with Teach for America and Bridge International Academies. Josh also provides important legal acumen as he is currently pursuing a joint JD/MBA degree at Northwestern.
Kirithigaa Kalaivanan
Co-Founder, Partnerships
Kirithigaa Kalaivanan is the VP of Partnerships, heading prison and corporate partnerships. She previously led reform efforts in education systems through the Central Square Foundation in India and worked as an investment banker for Barclays.
Sam Gersten
Co-Founder, Strategy
Sam Gersten is the CEO, managing the strategy and resources of the organization. Sam previously worked as a strategist to the President of the University of California system and in the Chief Strategy Office at Cisco. He started his career as a management consultant for Fortune 100 financial services companies, through Strategy& PwC.
Our Advisors
The EdStarter team is lucky to have a group of dedicated advisors with decades of experience in tackling pressing issues across education, incarceration and technology.
Andres Idarraga
Co-Founder & CEO, TTEF
Andres Idarraga is a co-founder and CEO of TTEF, a foundation democratizing access to higher education. Apart from his numerous professional achievements and academic degrees from Brown, Yale and Northwestern, Andres brings an important personal perspective, as he was previously incarcerated for over 6 years.
Brian Hill
Co-Founder & CEO, Edovo
Brian Hill, is a co-founder and CEO of Edovo, a company that provides educational technology and content to incarcerated individuals. He has experience deploying proven edtech solutions in prisons and mastery of working with prison agencies.
Pranav Kothari
CEO, Revolution Impact
Pranav Kothari is CEO of Revolution Impact, which provides education-focused advisory services. Pranav is also an Adjunct Lecturer for Social Impact at the Kellogg School of Management and brings extensive experience with impact-focused ventures.
