Gene Wade
Founder & CEO, UniversityNow

Gene has spent most of his adult life focused on helping to ensure that everyone has access to high quality education. He believes that education is the solution to many of the biggest challenges facing people and societies around the world.

Prior to founding UniversityNow, he was co-founder and CEO of Platform Learning, a tutoring company that served tens of thousands of low-income students throughout the United States. He was also co-founder and CEO of LearnNow, a school management company. Prior to becoming an education entrepreneur, he was a corporate bankruptcy attorney. Gene has an MBA from The Wharton School, a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Morehouse College.

As a serial entrepreneur in the education space, Gene has been profiled by media, including FastCompany and Business 2.0. In 2011, Gene shared his personal story and vision for UniversityNow as a speaker at TEDxSanFrancisco‘s Salon on Higher Education. His TED Talk, “Building the World’s Most Affordable and Accessible Private University Online” can be found here: http://bit.ly/Gene_Wade_TEDxSF.

Emily Chiu
Senior Director of Strategy & Partnerships, UniversityNow

Emily leads strategy and partnerships at UniversityNow, particularly as it relates to building relationships with students and community organizations at the grassroots level in order to further UniversityNow’s goal of creating open access to an affordable, quality college education for everyone who seeks it.

Previously, Emily was the founder and CEO of Apply in the Sky, a tech start-up that launched software apps and a Kayak-style search tool to simplify and organize the graduate school admissions experience for MBAs.  In the community, Emily currently serves as the Head of Operations at TEDx San Francisco and a board advisor to Stanford Women in Business.

Emily started her career in finance as a private equity investor in technology companies, and a corporate finance analyst in Goldman Sachs’ technology and healthcare coverage groups. Emily earned a B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School of Business, and a B.A. in International Studies from the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated from the Huntsman Program in International Studies & Business.

Amanda Holt
Manager of Strategy & Campaigns, University Now

Amanda joined UniversityNow as manager of strategy and campaigns and focuses on developing content and planning grassroots initiatives to broaden awareness and support of the company’s mission: accessible and affordable education for all.

Before UniversityNow, Amanda founded shatterbox, a video and social platform for students and young professionals to find inspiration in their career development.  The shatterbox website features short film narratives of fascinating millennial professionals across industries as well as a curated resource blog and social network, all aimed at illuminating fulfilling career alternatives.

Amanda began her career in advertising account management at NYC-based boutique agency, Berlin Cameron, and continued to HBO, where she coordinated media relations for documentaries.  Amanda received her B.A. in Public Policy and Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.