Partners
Robert J. Hutter
Managing Partner
Robert J. Hutter is Managing Partner of Learn Capital. He was co-founder of Edusoft (acquired by Houghton-Mifflin), one of the most widely used assessment management platforms in US public education. Rob is a patent holder in games-based adaptive learning and is the founder of a tax credits partnership administered by the U.S. Treasury focusing on high performance schools.
In addition to his background in education, Rob was co-founder of Gazillion, a developer of massively multiplayer online videogames featuring Marvel Entertainment franchises, and was co-founder of SmartDrive, a developer of life saving solutions for fleet vehicle operators that was recently named to the Wall Street Journal Top 50 Venture-Backed Startup List. Earlier in his career, Rob worked at Fundamental Capital and was instrumental in the founding stages of Silicon Spice which sold to Broadcom for $1.2 billion. He is a graduate of Harvard University.
Greg Mauro
Managing Partner
Greg Mauro is a Managing Partner of Learn Capital. Greg was a member of the inaugural foundation board at High Tech High schools in San Diego and is a co-founder of RCV, a facilities financing fund for high achieving schools. As an entrepreneur and investor, Greg has been on the founding team of five ventures that have received over $500M in venture capital. He was founder and CEO of Nextivity, a breakthrough indoor coverage provider with customers including Vodafone and T-Mobile. Nextivity was the 2009 CONNECT Most Innovative Product Award winner and is a Fierce Wireless Top 15 company. He was also founder and President of SmartDrive, a provider of onboard vehicle risk management and a Wall Street Journal Top 50 Startup. Prior to SmartDrive, Greg was founding Vice President of Business Development at Entropic, where he authored the original business plan and led strategic investment efforts. Now public, Entropic (ENTR) includes Verizon, Time Warner, Comcast, and DIRECTV as investors and Entropic technology powers the in-home video networking for each.
Tom Vander Ark
Managing Partner
Tom Vander Ark is a Managing Partner of Learn Capital. Previously, he served as President of the X PRIZE Foundation and Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Tom served as a public school superintendent for one of Washington State’s larger school districts that has been recognized for narrowing achievement gaps and reducing administrative costs. Tom also has extensive experience in the private sector serving as a senior executive for retail start up PACE Membership Warehouse that achieved $5 billion in revenue and was sold to K-Mart.
Tom is director of the International Association of K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) and advises a number of education reform groups. He’s the author of Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World and blogs at GettingSmart.com.
Michael Staton
Partner
Michael Staton is a Partner at Learn Capital. He is the founder and former CEO of Inigral, the pioneer of Social Enrollment Management technology in Higher Education and the first Lifecycle Engagement Platform. For Inigral, Michael secured the first ever venture investment from the Gates Foundation into a private company. Because of his years as a public school teacher and his intuitive understanding of K12 education, Michael served as a Venture Partner and still serves as a Community Advisor to NewSchools Venture Fund’s EdTech Portfolio. Michael was declared a top one hundred innovator by the Chronicle of Higher Education, and he is on the advisory board of SxSW EDU, the ASU Education Innovation Summit, and the Higher Education Working Group of the American Enterprise Institute and the New America Foundation.
Elliott Bisnow
Venture Partner
Elliott Bisnow is a Venture Partner at Learn Capital, and represents Summit within the general partnership. As Founder and CEO of Summit, Elliott oversees their annual gatherings, which Forbes called “The Davos of Generation Y,” and President Clinton called “A gift to the United States and the world.” Elliott also oversees their Action Fund, which made 10 startup investments 2011, including Zaarly, Warby Parker, EcoMom, Scribd and Uber. Elliott is the Co-Founder of The Get Well Soon Tour, which brings world famous musicians to perform in hospitals for sick children. At each Get Well Soon Tour stop, children in hospitals across America are surprised by their idols and this year met Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Maroon 5, Bruno Mars, Pitbull and Mandy Moore; Elliott serves as a founding board member of the United Nations Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council. Elliott is also the Co-Founder of Bisnow Media Corporation with his dad, Mark, which is the largest publisher of commercial real estate news in America and one of the largest business conference producers in America. Elliott grew up in Washington DC and is an avid tennis player and skier.