Luis E. García de Brigard

Founder & Managing Partner, Appian Education Venture

Luis is the Founder and Managing Partner of Appian Education Ventures, and has started, managed, and scaled educational companies from the ground up to multi-million dollar businesses. His experience in the industry includes K-12, educational travel, languages, educational technologies, and after-school education. Luis has led a variety of growth strategies ranging from greenfield projects to mergers and acquisitions of well-established companies. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer for the Americas at Inspired Education. He has significant government experience, having served as Deputy Minister of Education of Colombia, where he managed one of the nation’s largest budgets and was responsible for the schooling of nearly 10 million students. Luis has served as director, trustee and member in numerous boards of educational organizations including Harvard University’s Laspau, the Global Education Innovation Initiative, Varkey Foundation’s Atlantis Group, and SOS Children’s Villages.

As the founder of Enseña por Colombia (EpC), Luis has been an active member of our community of alumni CEOs. Luis remains an active Board member of EpC and has also made significant connections for Teach For All in Latin America. He also has a deep love for the MENA region and recently connected Teach For All to the ministries in the UAE and Saudi Arabia where he is actively consulting on the development of national education strategies. His business focuses on education globally which positions him well to be helpful. Luis earned his Law degree from Universidad Javeriana, received a Masters in Education from Harvard University and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyNational Service (2003), the Schwab Foundation’s Outstanding Social Entrepreneur Award (2003), Aetna’s Voice of Conscience Award (1994), the Citizen Activist Award from the Gleitsman Foundation (1994), and the Jefferson Award for Public Service (1991)