Board of Directors
Chris Sobecki, Chairman & Director
Chris Sobecki is a principal of The Invus Group, LLC., a New York-based investment firm which originates, structures and acts as a lead equity investor in a variety of private equity situations including buy-outs, early-stage venture capital and expansion financings. Invus has committed capital in excess of $3 billion. Invus professionals have significant experience as business consultants and line managers, which enables it to assist portfolio companies in formulating and executing strategies that maximize long-term value. Over its nineteen-year history, Invus has made investments in over 80 portfolio companies in a wide range of industries, including education, software and telecommunications. The majority of these investments have been guided to liquidity. Chris was actively involved in Invus' investment in The Grow Network, a nationally recognized leader in assessment reporting for states and large districts, which was recently sold to McGraw-Hill. Chris holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Mark R. Nemec, Ph.D., President & CEO
President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Nemec joined Eduventures in 2011, coming to the organization from Forrester Research’s executive team. Mark brings to Eduventures extensive leadership experience and research and advisory expertise, along with a passion for higher education. He is responsible for creating value for clients and shareholders through the strategic guidance and growth of the company. As Managing Director at Forrester, Mark led the Technology Industry Client Group, overseeing the global strategy and day-to-day operations of Forrester's offerings for hardware, software, and services providers. He also drove the firm's acquisitions of Strategic Oxygen from Monitor Group in 2009 and Springboard Research from Knowledge Platform in 2011. Prior to that role, Mark was a vice president running the Forrester Leadership Boards (FLBs). Before joining Forrester, Mark was a senior director at the Advisory Board Company, a research consultancy based in Washington, D.C..
Previously, Mark served on the faculty in Political Science at Davidson College, where his work focused on how organizations and their leadership manage innovation and navigate constraints. He has also been a member of the review board for thinkwell.com, a publisher of online college textbooks; a policy advisor on technology and development to the Chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors; and an instructor at the University of Michigan.
Mark's book, Ivory Towers and Nationalist Minds (University of Michigan Press, 2006), assessed the impact of American universities on the establishment of the American state. In what has been called "a wonderful, learned, and original work, full of present-day relevance," Mark examines how a community of university leaders negotiated the complexity of the turn of the century to establish themselves as the primary institutions for defining societal and political change. He is also a contributing author to the forthcoming University of Virginia Press book, The Educational Legacy of Woodrow Wilson, stemming from his presentation at a Princeton University conference on the same subject.
Mark received his Ph.D. in political science (American Politics) and his M.A. in education (Higher Education) from the University of Michigan, where he was awarded a Regents Fellowship and a Rackham Dissertation Fellowship. He earned his B.A., cum laude, at Yale, where he was also an All-Ivy League rugby player.
Les Charm, a director of the Company since 2002, has been a partner in the firm of Youngman & Charm since 1972. The firm specializes in directorship functions for firms owned and operated by entrepreneurs. Youngman & Charm has operated in a variety of industries and channels of distribution, and has been involved in many successful financings and acquisitions and mergers. From 1977 through 1990, Mr. Charm was chairman and president of a major distributor and specialty retail chain. He has been active in other specialty marketing companies. He is a member and former director of the National Association of Corporate Directors-New England, as well as director of several public and privately-held firms. Mr. Charm has taught throughout the world on a variety of topics regarding entrepreneurship. He is on the President's Council at Babson College, and is the recipient of the Appel Award for Entrepreneurship. He is a graduate of Babson College.
David Cohen has had a distinguished, 20-year career as a neuroscientist, followed by 17 years as a senior university administrator. He served as Provost at Northwestern University, after having been Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School at Northwestern. Subsequently, he served as Vice President for Arts and Sciences and Dean of the Faculty at Columbia University. He is currently Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia. David has held a number of elected offices in national and international organizations, including President of the Society for Neuroscience and Chairman of the Association of American Medical Colleges. He has served on numerous boards, including Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Zenith Electronics, and the Columbia University Press. He has also served extensively on advisory committees for various organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the National Academy of Sciences. David has a B.A. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Rich is an industry thought leader in sales and marketing with more than 25 years of experience leading businesses and people with responsibility for sales and marketing teams throughout the world. Since co-founding SiriusDecisions, Rich and the team have built and grown one of the most influential organizations in Sales and Marketing business services worldwide. With SiriusDecisions, Rich has worked across multiple industries and at hundreds of companies large and small, including American Express, Symantec, Adobe, RBC, HP, IBM, ADP and Iron Mountain, providing guidance and advice on strategy and operations. Prior to SiriusDecisions, Rich spent 14 years at Gartner Group, most recently as Executive Vice President and Officer, where his responsibilities included worldwide sales, marketing, and events. His extensive travels to Asia, Europe, South America, and throughout North America offer a global sensitivity needed in today’s competitive marketplace. Rich also held senior-level positions in operations, sales, and marketing at Gartner, and spent a number of years living in England as the leader of sales and marketing for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. As head of Gartner Events, he was responsible for the initial design and development of ITXpo, the world's most successful technology exhibition, and for growing Gartner Events into what is now the largest technology conference business in the world. While at Gartner, Rich played an active role in many of the corporate acquisitions made by the company. Rich also has held sales and marketing positions at Four-Phase Systems-Motorola and Hewlett-Packard. He was an initial investor in Sport Club, a mail-order catalog business, and North American Plastic, a merchant to mass-market distributor; both grew to profitability and were sold. Rich received a B.S. in finance from the University of Connecticut.
Aflalo is a Managing Director at The Invus Group, LLC., based in New York, and focuses on investments in private companies. He joined Invus in 1998. Prior to joining Invus, Aflalo was at Marakon Associates where as a manager he led strategic consulting engagements for large multinational companies in a wide range of industries including financial services, retail, and consumer products. Previously he worked at the Federal Reserve. He holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's The Wharton School and a BA in Economics and Political Science from Yale University.