Maria Flynn is president and CEO of JFF, a national nonprofit that drives transformation in the American workforce and education systems. Maria’s commitment to JFF’s vision of economic advancement for all and her leadership in workforce policy have made her a national authority on the future of work, the role of technology in the labor market, career pathways for underserved individuals, and employer engagement. In 2018, Maria launched JFFLabs within JFF to bridge the traditional education and workforce systems with innovative approaches and technology-enabled solutions.

Before becoming CEO in 2016, Maria was JFF’s senior vice president and led the Building Economic Opportunity Group, helping entry-level workers advance to family-supporting careers while enabling employers to build and sustain a productive workforce. She also led JFF’s federal policy and advocacy strategies, which focus on advancing the educational needs of underserved Americans and developing a skilled workforce.

Before joining JFF in 2007, Maria was a member of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service in the U.S. Department of Labor, where she held several high-level positions involving employment, training, and research. At the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration, she oversaw the development of policies for training programs serving both young people and adults, supervised the agency’s research and evaluation strategy, and managed its $12 billion annual budget. She was a key driver of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, the National School-to-Work initiative, and the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills initiative.

A nationally recognized expert on workforce development, Maria speaks regularly at corporate and nonprofit events. These include the Council on Foreign Relations “Training for Twenty-First Century Jobs” panel, the SOCAP18 conference, the Fortune CEO Initiative, McKinsey & Company’s Consortium for Advancing Adult Learning & Development, the Poynter Institute, and the ASU GSV Summit. She was recognized by The Commonwealth Institute and The Boston Globe as CEO of one of the top 100 Women-Led Businesses in Massachusetts for 2018.

Maria has been a judge for the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge, MIT Solve, and the RSA’s Future Work Awards. She also served for several years on the board of the National Association of Workforce Boards. She is regularly interviewed in the media about the future of work and has been quoted in Bloomberg News, The Boston Globe, BuzzFeed, and Fast Company, among others.

Andrea joined Tyton Partners as a Senior Advisor in July 2015, bringing a wealth of strategic and operational executive-level experience in the for-profit and not-for-profit education worlds. She will be actively engaged in supporting existing client relationships, as well as identifying new opportunities for the Firm.

Andrea most recently worked for the College Board from 2010 to 2013, first as a consultant, then as a senior executive and key member of the leadership team where she was engaged in product strategy and go-to-market approaches, and led the US and International teams that were responsible for partnering with districts, states, foreign entities and higher education institutions to deliver College Board programs and services.

Prior to the College Board, Andrea spent nearly six years at Kaplan, Inc. in a variety of operating and strategy roles, culminating in CEO of Kaplan Financial and Real Estate, a division that delivered classroom, online and hybrid training, test prep and professional development to individuals who required certifications and continuing education to enter, practice and succeed in their professions. During her tenure, she oversaw the division’s growth and expansion strategy as well as all of its operations, leading the acquisition and integration of more than ten training companies and multiple new product initiatives, including the launch of its online education efforts.

Andrea has extensive experience working with for-profit and not-for-profit organizations on strategy and leadership engagements, and has served on and assisted both for-profit and not-for-profit Boards of Directors. She holds an AB in Social Studies, with a focus in international relations, from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Rusty is a nationally recognized senior executive, policy advisor, entrepreneur, impact investor and thought leader with over 20-years of leadership experience in launching, scaling and innovating global digital learning, social impact, Higher Education and workforce development organizations, nonprofits, and businesses with global governments, institutions, and technological, non-profit and corporate partners.

He most recently served on the senior leadership team at 2U, Inc. (TWOU) a global digital Higher Education and life-long learning company as the Senior Vice President, U.S. & Global Program Management where he worked directly with university Presidents, Provosts, Chancellors and Deans while overseeing a global senior team in launching and scaling online graduate and undergraduate degrees, and certificate programs with over 40 universities and 75 degree programs including Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Yale, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, London School of Economics, Northwestern University and the University of North Carolina. Rusty also served on the senior team and managed growth strategy, curriculum development and revenue for GetSmarter, 2U’s life-long learning, short-course professional pathways business.

Prior to joining 2U, Rusty was on the executive team and served as Managing Director and General Partner of 1776 Global Innovative Incubator and Venture Fund. Based in DC but working across 1776’s labs in SF, NYC, Tel Aviv, and Dubai, Rusty ran 1776’s global Future of Learning and Work innovation practice and seed fund with universities, foundations, impact funds, corporate and over 2000 start up partners. Rusty and his team invested in 25 start-up companies - including Guild Education, mPower, Yellowbrick, RideScout, Twiga, EdSurge, Fluent City, Aquicore, and HopSkipDrive. Previously, Rusty served as co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of SF-based Learnist, one of the fastest growing social learning content and curriculum companies in the country with over 25 million global users in its first 20 months. With the same management team, Rusty was a co-Founder and Board Members of Grockit, a pioneering social and adaptive learning test prep company serving over 10 million students globally that was successfully sold to Kaplan, Inc. in August 2013.

Before joining Grockit and Learnist, Rusty held President/GM operating positions with Educate, Inc. one of the largest supplemental education companies in the U.S., including Sylvan Learning and Catapult Learning serving over 100,000 students in 35 states, partnering with thousands of school districts in mostly underserved, at-risk communities.

Before entering the private sector, Rusty served in the Clinton Administration’s Corporation for National and Community Service launching the AmeriCorps program - a $650M government startup that has served over 1 million members, and provided over $3B in education scholarships for students and adult learners over the past 25 years. He also served as an education and technology Policy Advisor for Senator John Kerry and the Minority Leadership Office in the Democratic Senate Policy Committee.

As founder and principal of the eQ group, Rusty currently advises university Provosts and Deans on digital and hybrid life-long learning and professional pathway programs and serves as a senior advisor for private and publicly traded workforce innovation, edtech companies, foundations, and nonprofits. He has advised the Department of Education during the Clinton Administration and Obama Administration on various school success, student access, education, technology and career readiness issues. He has participated in White House conferences and committees related to Higher Education innovation, social entrepreneurship and community impact. Rusty speaks often as a keynote or panelist at global innovation conferences on education, social entrepreneurship, impact investing, disruptive learning and global public-private partnerships.

He has authored op-eds, articles and/or been quoted in publications including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Boston Globe, Inside Higher Ed, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and he has appeared on national media including C-SPAN, and broadcast and network news programs. Rusty received his B.A. at Washington University, St. Louis with Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude honors and an MBA at Harvard University. He was a Coro Leadership Fellow in New York City and studied at the London School of Economics.

Brynt is currently Senior Director of Military & STEM Programs for Walmart. He also currently serves as a Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army and is a Board Member for a National Science Foundation project on the Future of Work.

Prior to joining the private sector, Brynt served over 20 years as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army rising to the rank of colonel. During his time in uniform, he served in a wide variety of operational positions in the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, to include 39 months in Iraq between 2004 and 2009 where he earned the Combat Infantry Badge and three bronze star medals.

After leaving the Army, Brynt served as a principal and then partner for BMNT, a technology based consulting firm in Palo Alto, CA; as a Science & Technology Policy Fellow for the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, DC; as a Co-Founder & CEO of Call Sign Coffee, an e-commerce coffee roasting company in San Jose, CA; as a Co-Founder and Director of Workforce Development, Education, and Training for NextFlex, a National Manufacturing Innovation Institute in San Jose, CA; and as a member of the Silicon Valley Workforce Development Board, work2future.

He and his wife live in Bentonville, Arkansas. Their daughter is a Soldier in the US Army and their son is a student at the University of Tennessee.

Betsy Bland joined Workday Ventures in 2020 as a VP and managing director. Prior to this, she served as a vice president responsible for Corporate Strategy, where she focused on high-impact strategies supporting Workday growth and scale selling into the office of Finance and Procurement. Before moving into Corporate Strategy, Betsy was also the strategy and product leader for the Workday Financial Management and Spend Management portfolio. During this time, she helped grow the customer base by over 350 percent and establish Workday Financial Management as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant. Betsy brings more than 20 years of experience in strategy, marketing, and product management for both enterprise applications and application middleware. She joined Workday in 2010 as vice president of Product and Customer Marketing, and later led strategy for vertical markets. Before joining Workday, Betsy served as the vice president of industry and product marketing at Intacct Corp., a SaaS-based financial management and accounting solution provider for small and midsize businesses. She has also held product-focused positions at BEA Systems, RSA Security, and PeopleSoft. Betsy holds a Master of Business Administration degree and a bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford University.

Rusty is a nationally recognized senior executive, policy advisor, entrepreneur, impact investor and thought leader with over 20-years of leadership experience in launching, scaling and innovating global digital learning, social impact, Higher Education and workforce development organizations, nonprofits, and businesses with global governments, institutions, and technological, non-profit and corporate partners.

He most recently served on the senior leadership team at 2U, Inc. (TWOU) a global digital Higher Education and life-long learning company as the Senior Vice President, U.S. & Global Program Management where he worked directly with university Presidents, Provosts, Chancellors and Deans while overseeing a global senior team in launching and scaling online graduate and undergraduate degrees, and certificate programs with over 40 universities and 75 degree programs including Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Yale, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, London School of Economics, Northwestern University and the University of North Carolina. Rusty also served on the senior team and managed growth strategy, curriculum development and revenue for GetSmarter, 2U’s life-long learning, short-course professional pathways business.

Prior to joining 2U, Rusty was on the executive team and served as Managing Director and General Partner of 1776 Global Innovative Incubator and Venture Fund. Based in DC but working across 1776’s labs in SF, NYC, Tel Aviv, and Dubai, Rusty ran 1776’s global Future of Learning and Work innovation practice and seed fund with universities, foundations, impact funds, corporate and over 2000 start up partners. Rusty and his team invested in 25 start-up companies - including Guild Education, mPower, Yellowbrick, RideScout, Twiga, EdSurge, Fluent City, Aquicore, and HopSkipDrive. Previously, Rusty served as co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of SF-based Learnist, one of the fastest growing social learning content and curriculum companies in the country with over 25 million global users in its first 20 months. With the same management team, Rusty was a co-Founder and Board Members of Grockit, a pioneering social and adaptive learning test prep company serving over 10 million students globally that was successfully sold to Kaplan, Inc. in August 2013.

Before joining Grockit and Learnist, Rusty held President/GM operating positions with Educate, Inc. one of the largest supplemental education companies in the U.S., including Sylvan Learning and Catapult Learning serving over 100,000 students in 35 states, partnering with thousands of school districts in mostly underserved, at-risk communities.

Before entering the private sector, Rusty served in the Clinton Administration’s Corporation for National and Community Service launching the AmeriCorps program - a $650M government startup that has served over 1 million members, and provided over $3B in education scholarships for students and adult learners over the past 25 years. He also served as an education and technology Policy Advisor for Senator John Kerry and the Minority Leadership Office in the Democratic Senate Policy Committee.

As founder and principal of the eQ group, Rusty currently advises university Provosts and Deans on digital and hybrid life-long learning and professional pathway programs and serves as a senior advisor for private and publicly traded workforce innovation, edtech companies, foundations, and nonprofits. He has advised the Department of Education during the Clinton Administration and Obama Administration on various school success, student access, education, technology and career readiness issues. He has participated in White House conferences and committees related to Higher Education innovation, social entrepreneurship and community impact. Rusty speaks often as a keynote or panelist at global innovation conferences on education, social entrepreneurship, impact investing, disruptive learning and global public-private partnerships.

He has authored op-eds, articles and/or been quoted in publications including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Boston Globe, Inside Higher Ed, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and he has appeared on national media including C-SPAN, and broadcast and network news programs. Rusty received his B.A. at Washington University, St. Louis with Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude honors and an MBA at Harvard University. He was a Coro Leadership Fellow in New York City and studied at the London School of Economics.

Yigal Kerszenbaum is JFF’s managing director for innovative finance, a role in which he will oversee the organization’s investment strategy. He was the founder and managing director of the Employment Technology Fund (ETF), which is now ETF@JFFLabs.

An expert in impact investing, Yigal’s goal in managing ETF@JFFLabs is to support entrepreneurs who develop technology solutions to train and upskill low-income and lower-skill adults and connect people from underserved communities with employment opportunities.

Yigal has executed more than $120 million worth of transactions in impact investments in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Before founding ETF, he worked at the Rockefeller Foundation, where he managed a global portfolio of 25 impact and program-related investments that was valued at more than $60 million.

Earlier in his career, Yigal was an investment professional on the private equity team at Developing World Markets, an impact investment fund manager focused on inclusive finance.

Before that, he worked at 57 Stars, a $2 billion private asset manager focused on private equity partnerships in emerging markets. He started his career as an entrepreneur, founding a language school in Córdoba, Argentina.

Kristina Francis is a Partner with The Marathon Fund, the funds objective is to capitalize on the early-stage capital void for underrepresented entrepreneurs in unique areas of technology innovation across the following industries: finance, education, healthcare, government, and media. Kristina is a passionate growth driver and change agent with nearly 20 years of experience generating, retaining, and accelerating business across Federal, State, commercial, and non-profit environments. Ms. Francis also founded EsteemLogic, an Information Technology Consulting firm where she leads transformation programs and provides social marketing and creative acquisition support for technology consulting and software businesses expanding into the government space. Ms. Francis is Board Chair of Black Girl Ventures, Venture Committee member for Vinetta Project, Co-host on the Get Found Get Funded podcast, Member Pipeline Angels, and mentor to tech/mobile/SAAS start-ups. Ms. Francis received her BA from Georgetown University in Psychology and MS from George Washington University in Information Systems Management. Ms. Francis is passionate about education, equity, empowerment, and innovation.

Jessica Haselton leads Education Innovation Ventures, the Foundation's program-related investment program. Jessica has a broad background in grantmaking, social enterprise, impact measurement and impact investing. Prior to joining ECMC Foundation, Jessica was a partner at TriLinc Global, an investment management firm that makes impact investments in small and medium enterprises in developing economies, where she managed investor relations, corporate social responsibility and corporate communications for the firm.

Jessica came to TriLinc Global after conducting a post-graduate fellowship at the Clinton Foundation, where she led the development of an impact measurement system and produced key performance indicators for the organization's members to use in tracking and reporting on the performance of their social and environmentally focused work. She has worked with multiple nonprofit organizations, spanning Southern California, Washington, DC, and Southeast Asia. Jessica holds an MBA with an emphasis in social entrepreneurship from the USC Marshall School of Business, and a BA in political science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Carrie Shaw works at the intersection of health education and virtual reality storytelling. She is the CEO and founder of Embodied Labs, an immersive training and wellness platform for professional and family caregivers. After graduating from UNC Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Public Health, Carrie spent 2 years working as a Health Education Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic where she fell in love with the way visual communication tools have the unique potential to cross cultural, language, and education barriers. Following that time, Carrie worked as her mother's primary caregiver, who's diagnosis of Early Onset Alzheimer's disease opened Carrie's eyes to the needs of caregivers and the aging services workforce. Carrie holds a Master's of Science in Biomedical Visualization and her work has been featured by The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The History Channel, and CBS National TV show, The Doctors.