Eugene V. Wade Jr
Chairman & CEO
Eugene Wade is the Chairman and CEO of Platform Learning. Prior to co-founding
Platform, Mr. Wade was Executive Vice President for Development at Edison Schools.
While at Edison, he oversaw Edison's effort in connection with securing its 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.
Before joining Edison, Mr. Wade was the Chairman and CEO of LearnNow, Inc.,
an education management company that managed charter schools and struggling public
schools throughout the United States. Over a 24-month period, Mr. Wade grew LearnNow
from a startup to a company serving more than 6,000 students attending 10 schools
in four states. In July 2001, LearnNow was sold to Edison in a transaction valued
at more than $36 million. At the time of the sale, LearnNow had more than $45
million in revenue and more than 250 corporate and school employees. LearnNow's
outside investors included leading education industry investors, such as New Schools
Venture Fund.
Prior to LearnNow, Mr. Wade was a corporate and bankruptcy attorney at Honigman
Miller Schwartz and Cohn in Detroit, Michigan and at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton
& Garrison in New York City. In addition to practicing law, Mr. Wade spent
several years writing curriculum and conducting workshops for the Efficacy Institute,
a non-profit educational consulting firm focused on improving the academic performance
of low-income students throughout the United States.
Mr. Wade holds a BA from Morehouse College, a JD from Harvard Law School and
a MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Wade grew up in the Roxbury section of Boston, Massachusetts and has been
actively involved in youth development and education reform throughout the United
States.
