Gene Wade is the Founder and CEO of UniversityNow, a venture-backed start-up, whose vision is a world in which education is universally affordable and accessible to all who seek it. At UniversityNow, Gene is focused on building a university system that takes student debt out of the equation.
Gene is a serial entrepreneur in the education space who has been profiled by the media, including Fast Company and Business 2.0, for his work as a social entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to fixing education.
Prior to UniversityNow, Gene was Co-Founder and CEO of two venture-backed, education companies. In 2003, Gene co-founded Platform Learning, an after school tutoring company, which he led as the CEO. Over two years, Platform Learning grew to serve over 35,000 students in 350 struggling public schools throughout the U.S.
Prior to co-founding Platform, Gene was Executive Vice President for Development at Edison Schools. While at Edison, he oversaw the effort to secure Edison's contract to manage 20 schools and 13,000 students in the School District of Philadelphia. He also advised Pennsylvania Governors Tom Ridge and Mark Schweiker in connection with the state takeover of the School District of Philadelphia.
In 1999, Gene co-founded LearnNow, a school management company which, over two years, grew to serve 6,000 students in 11 schools and was acquired by Edison Schools in 2001.
He holds a B.A. from Morehouse College, a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.