White Plains, NY – March 6, 2019 – Rethink Education, a leading impact investor in education technology companies, today announced the promotion of Michelle Dervan to Partner and appointment of Ebony Pope to Principal.
“We are excited to be growing the Rethink Education team with the promotion of Michelle and new addition of Ebony,” said Rick Segal, managing partner, Rethink Education. “From leading our seed investment strategy to supporting the broader portfolio, Michelle has played a critical role in the success of the firm over the past two years as we’ve partnered with companies to rethink how education technologies can better serve the world. We are thrilled to recognize her hard work and to welcome Ebony who brings an extensive background in the education sector and a deep passion for the impact investing space to the team.”
Rethink Education is focused on creating disruptive technologies across the education spectrum including K-12, post-secondary, workforce development and corporate training, and continuing education. In 2017, the firm’s portfolio served more 37.7 million total students and 13.6 million low income students.
“Billions of people suffer and fail to achieve their potential because they are taught in the wrong way. We want to equip people with the skills they need for today’s job opportunities and help them keep upgrading those skills after they enter the workforce,” said Matt Greenfield, managing partner, Rethink Education. “Michelle and Ebony are a powerhouse team who will be instrumental to the firm as we continue on our mission to invest in companies that are using technology to improve how people teach and learn.”
About Michelle Dervan
Michelle joined Rethink Education in 2016 as a Principal and has managed the Rethink Education Seed fund and led investments in Crehana, Upswing, Care Academy and AllHere over the past 2 years. Prior to joining the firm, she was a Director of Strategic Partnerships at Pearson Education where she focused on sourcing and structuring partnership deals with large and small tech companies. Previously she held a number of education, edtech and economic development roles at Irish government agency, Enterprise Ireland. Michelle is actively interested in education policy and workforce development initiatives and volunteers with a number of community and nonprofit organizations including NYEdtech Meetup, YearUp and she serves as a NextGen Board Member of NextForAutism, a nonprofit that designs innovative programs to improve the lives of people living with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She has an MBA from Columbia Business School and BA in European Studies, Russian and French from Trinity College Dublin.
About Ebony Pope
Ebony joined Rethink Education in 2019 as a Principal. Previously, she was the Director of US Ventures at Village Capital, where she was responsible for finding and supporting US start-ups for the fund’s five sectors. Prior to this, Ebony was Education Director for the Social Venture Fund and spent time in her hometown of Detroit, managing charter schools at New Urban Learning. She began her career as an Account Strategist at Google.
About Rethink Education
Led by Rick Segal, Matt Greenfield, Michael Walden and Michelle Dervan, Rethink Education is focused exclusively on education technology that invests in early- and growth-stage start-ups that are developing technological solutions to 21st Century learning.