Civic Entrepreneur and Education Innovator Chris Gabrieli Joins Achieve Board

Achieve announced today that Chris Gabrieli, Partner Emeritus at Bessemer Venture Partners and co-founder of three education innovation and reform organizations, has joined its board of directors.

Gabrieli will join Achieve's board members in guiding the organization's work to lead and support state efforts to improve systems of standards, assessment, accountability, and graduation requirements so that all students are prepared for postsecondary education and work.

"I'm so pleased that Chris is bringing his leadership in education innovation to the Achieve board of directors," said Achieve President Michael Cohen. "Chris' experience in the higher education sphere and groundbreaking work connecting state and district partners will propel Achieve's work forward as we continue to pursue college and career readiness for all students."

"Chris is an excellent addition to Achieve's board," said Mark Grier, Vice Chairman of Prudential Financial and Chair of the Achieve board. "He has proven his strong commitment to addressing challenges and opportunities in education in creative and exciting ways, and his experience and perspective will be valuable assets to Achieve."

Gabrieli began his business career as the founder and CEO of GMIS, a medical software company that became the leader in its field and a publicly-traded company. He turned his business savvy to education as the co-founder of three nonprofit education initiatives. In 2000, he founded Massachusetts 2020, an organization dedicated to ensuring schools provide sufficient learning time for students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. From this organization, The National Center on Time and Learning was launched in 2007 in an effort to expand the work to more states and develop broad policies to support expanded learning time in schools. Gabrieli also co-founded Transforming Education in 2009, a nonprofit that translates research on social-emotional skills into actionable policies to support student success. In 2013, he co-founded Empower Schools, which partners with communities to focus on giving schools the flexibilities they need to prepare students for success. He is currently the CEO at Empower Schools.

Due to his extensive work in education, Gabrieli was appointed Chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education by Governor Charlie Baker in March 2015. He also serves as the Chairman of the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership, an initiative designed to accelerate success for middle school students, and is a Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a Partner Emeritus at Bessemer Venture Partners, where he helped entrepreneurs build biotechnology companies.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Chad Colby (202) 419-1570, ccolby@achieve.org Kelly Van Beveren (202) 745-2306, kvanbeveren@achieve.org