Joshua Pierce
Founder

After starting my career in the standard parts of Wall Street (Salomon Smith Barney and the Riverside Company), I went to work in charter schools (Edison Schools) and found a calling.  Building sustainable education businesses around effective outcome models is what I've spent 13 years doing.  Over time that evolved to doing more in and around higher education, in particular in the areas of how colleges can better address today's learner through technology as well as how people can or can't pay for the credentials they need to improve their lives.  I started Socratic Ventures in 2010 to work with bona fide education entrepreneurs and to help them construct sustainable, scalable businesses to effect lasting change in the world.   

Harvard Business School
Texas A&M

Nathan Green
Head of Growth

I started my career at Accenture where I spent 7 years helping the largest companies in the world implement new products, processes, and practices. After 2 more years serving as General Manager of the Talent Assessment division at Pearson, I was ready to start my own company in the space. In 2009, I founded Campus2Careers where I grew the business and product line to serve over 200 clients. After an acquisition by SureScore, I spent another 4 years adding 300 more accounts in the education and employment space. Most recently, I co-founded Acadeum with others from Socratic Ventures and managed our growth in revenue and new logos. Today, Acadeum serves over 550 college and university, K12, and corporate clients globally and is the largest network in higher education.  Most importantly, however, I've enjoyed my role growing 3 amazing kids and as a husband to one of the top professors in her field, Dr. Rachel Green, at UMass Amherst. 

Cornell University

Rob Manzer
Chief Academic Officer

Robert Manzer co-founded and served as Chief Academic Officer of Acadeum, a technology platform that supports new pathways and collaboration among 500+ colleges, professional associations, education companies and employers. He also founded the 20-year-old United Methodist College Washington Consortium and Nebraska’s largest dual enrollment program. Over a 30-year career in higher education, he served in faculty and senior academic roles at the University of Dallas, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Ohio Northern University, St. Edward’s University and American Intercontinental University. An expert on innovation and higher education regulation, he spearheaded the largest implementation of adaptive learning technology in American higher education. He currently serves as President of the American Academy for Liberal Education, the higher education/charter school accreditor focused on supporting traditional, text-based and classical liberal education. He has authored numerous articles and opinion pieces in leading academic, policy and current affairs publications, including the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, Tocqueville Review, American Enterprise Institute, National Review, Washington Examiner, eCampus News, Dallas Morning News, San Antonio Express News, and Texas Catholic. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Carleton College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from the University of Chicago.

Randall Macon
Operating Partner

I spent the early years out of college working in startups focusing on the intersection of art and technology. In the early 2000, I led the development of LeapFrog Toys Internet-connected adaptive learning product line. That experience opened up an amazing opportunity to lead the creation and launch of the the LIVESTRONG brand and educational platform for cancer survivors. Over the years I have had the privilege of developing innovation products for a broad spectrum of education companies from the K-12 space to a one of a kind mentoring platform for a nationally ranked MBA program in entrepreneurship. Socratic Ventures is truly a unique organization that is driving scalable impact in the education space unlike any other.

Baylor University

Luis Felipe Rincon
Entrepreneur In Residence (EIR)

Equal parts product developer and business builder. I ensure the consumer ultimately wins by building user-centric, scalable solutions to address problems in massive markets. I’ve spent the last two years at Socratic Ventures doing so in higher ed. After starting my career in real estate and consumer lending, I became a principal at a university tech startup accelerator, and worked with local venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. In 2011, I joined BuildASign, a high-growth e-commerce startup, focusing on growing the company through product and corporate development. In 2014, I co-founded Wearables.com and grew it into a leading destination for consumer wearable technology. I joined Socratic Ventures to incubate and launch College Consortium, and provide product and corporate development insights to the fund. Socratic Ventures is bringing disruption to new and established markets in higher ed, using technology as the agent to that disruption.

The University of Texas School of Law
Pepperdine University