Ian is the Founder and CEO of Vertex Partnership Academies, a virtues-based, International Baccalaureate public charter high schools, that opened in the Bronx in 2022. Ian is also a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he focuses on upward mobility, family formation, education and adoption. Ian recently fulfilled a ten-year tenure as the CEO of Public Prep, the nation’s oldest network that exclusively develops exceptional, tuition-free PreK and single-sex elementary and middle public charter schools. Ian previously worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as Deputy Director of Postsecondary Success and for MTV as the Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Public Affairs. Prior to MTV, he was the White House Director of Strategy and Performance Measurement for USA Freedom Corps. Ian has written a book entitled Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for ALL Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power. The book seeks to inspire young people of all races to build strong families and become masters of their own destiny, despite life’s challenges. He received his BS in Computer Science Engineering from Cornell University and MBA from Harvard Business School. He is an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at the Charter School Growth Fund, a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Woodson Center, an Echoing Green Fellow, a Harvard Initiative for Social Enterprise Fellow, and a Pahara-Aspen Institute Fellow. He has been serving as the Chairman of the Board since 2017. 

Board Member since 2017. Spence-Chapin Adoptive Parent.