Professional Biography
Brad Beshara is Penn GSE's Director of Strategic Analysis as well as an Instructor in the Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurial Finance courses. Brad advises senior leadership on topics ranging from competitive strategy and design to operations, evaluation, and admissions. As a member of the Education Entrepreneurship program faculty, he supports emerging entrepreneurs and experienced leaders from around the world in the ideation and exploration of a wide-ranging portfolio of impact-focused innovations.
Prior to joining the program leadership team, Brad was the Managing Director of the Office of Academic Innovation at Penn GSE, where he collaborated with a diverse group of constituents within higher education and throughout industry to catalyze education innovation and promote advances in pre-K through adult learning. His experience spans business and education, and includes developing the methods, algorithm, and technology for a venture assessment system designed to evaluate and identify high-value, high-impact startups. Early stage ventures identified through this process have gone on to raise over $250 million in capital and include an EdTech unicorn with a $1 billion valuation. Brad has also successfully designed and launched traditional educational programs in the higher education space, developed customized predictive analytics that support and advance strategic priorities in marketing and admissions, and created bespoke business models that capture the invaluable work of social impact initiatives and translate that work into effective financials, actionable knowledge, and sustainable strategies.
Brad holds a B.A. in economics from Rutgers University and an M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania.
