Lou Pugliese is an innovator, thought leader, and successful social entrepreneur with a life-long passion in designing and executing high impact education programs that connect and energize learning communities. Pugliese’s multidisciplinary career spans private sector entrepreneurship, education focused private and public equity and academic administration and research. As a successful change lever, Lou has deep experience in developing technology based community networks that leverage data, research and insight that support and advance impact. Throughout his career, Lou has operated with the premise that every learning community is unique and must recognize, cultivate and embrace the resources, knowledge, and talent of each community to stimulate economies at all levels of society.

 

In academia, Lou served as the Executive Vice President of the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), where he brought more than 20 years of experience in e-learning innovation. New strategic directions were forged in workforce education and national labor market programs. As Senior Innovation Fellow and Managing Director of the Arizona State’s (ASU) Action Lab, Lou created and led a research and development enterprise focused on student performance research and digital teaching and learning models. In entrepreneurship, Lou held senior leadership positions in venture capital and EdTech companies including as Chairman and CEO of Moodlerooms, Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Novak Biddle Venture Partners, and CEO of AnswerLogic. In Social Ventures, Lou was appointed CEO of University of Maryland’s UMUC Ventures, a nonprofit social impact organization that invests in, manages, and operationalizes education technologies to improve the online learning experience, data systems for student outcomes, and university operations. In technology innovation, Lou served as CEO of Blackboard Inc. where he grew the organization to the world's largest global e-learning platform for learning communities. At Arizona State University, Lou developed evidence-based business intelligence systems and rich data environments to track, intervene and predict learner success. In social impact, Pugliese has taught social entrepreneurship as an entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland College Park, and is deeply involved with the Community Coalition for Haiti and Bridge to Rwanda, which promote student learning through teacher development, child wellness, and safe, learning-centered school environments. Lou has deep experience in designing alternative technology-based education solutions for remote and disadvantaged communities to improve access to education via technology-enabled programs in developing nations in Latin America, Haiti and sub-Saharan Africa.