Educated Ventures draws upon the fifty years of combined experience of its team, who all boast
extensive experience in the education industry as well as direct experience working together in
the global strategy and corporate development team for Apollo Group.

Christopher Nyren

Prior to founding Educated Ventures at the end of 2011, Christopher Nyren served as an independent advisor to the global media and publishing company Bertelsmann on their entry into the global education market.

Christopher spent the prior four years helping to build the Corporate Development & Global Strategy team for Apollo Group, the owner of the University of Phoenix and largest for-profit educational company in the world. During this time, he 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, Mr. Nyren 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.

Christopher has also worked in private equity, including 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.  Mr. Nyren 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.

 Connect with Christopher on LinkedIn.

 

Todd Maurer

Todd specializes in emerging markets, with a particular focus on Asia.   For over two decades, Todd has brought analytical research, investment banking and investment expertise to corporations, governments, and private investors worldwide.

Todd was previously VP of Corporate Development for Apollo Global, a joint venture investment company formed in 2007 by Apollo Group, Inc. and Carlyle Group.  Prior to this, from 1998 to 2001, he was a Partner at Lotus Asset Management Ltd., a Hong Kong-based hedge fund, which focused exclusively on the Asia-­Pacific and India through both public and private market investments.

From 1992 to 1998, he held senior corporate finance and equity research positions within Peregrine Investments Holdings Ltd. based in Hong Kong, Seoul and Beijing.  At Peregrine he worked on a number of landmark privatizations, global offerings and financial restructurings involving both state-owned enterprises and private sector firms, while also representing some of the world’s leading multinationals on acquisitions in China and Asia.  He commenced his career as a trade economist with KOTRA, a Korean government agency, where he developed US-­Korea economic and trade research.

Todd currently serves as a Board Member of The STEM Academy, a non-­‐profit organization that provides STEM literacy to middle and high school students, and is an Advisor to China Education Network, Inc., a Leading education services venture focused on executive education In China.  He is a Member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, an affiliate of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Todd earned a B.A. in Economics from U.C.L.A, an M.I.A from Columbia University, and has conducted post-­‐graduate study at Peking University and Nanking University, China. He speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese, and conversational Korean and Russian.

 Connect with Todd on LinkedIn.

 

Jordan Diab

Most recently, Jordan was a director at UBS in their Midwest Investment Bank Group from 2003-2012.  Over his nine year career he advised on public and private M&A transactions totaling over $5 billion in aggregate consideration and raised over $15 billion of combined debt and equity capital.  He has advised on numerous k-12, post-secondary and professional education on behalf of publicly traded and private firms as well as private equity portfolio companies.

Jordan currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Auxiliary Board of The Art Institute of Chicago.

Jordan earned a B.A in Economics from Loyola University Chicago.

 Connect with Jordan on LinkedIn.

 

Akhil Kishore (Special Advisor)

Akhil is a special advisor to Educated Advisors.  He has over 10 years of diverse finance, investment and technology experience, with a particular focus on India and the education and employment sector.

Akhil received his MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and completed his undergraduate studies at the Delhi College of Engineering.

 Connect with Akhil on LinkedIn.