Eli Kennedy is the Chief Executive Officer of SMASH. Eli has focused on growing SMASH’s impact by piloting new innovations and is on track to more than double the number of SMASH programs across the nation since joining in 2016. Prior to SMASH, Eli served as the senior vice president of Redbird Advanced Learning, a research-based EdTech company, and as the president and CEO of the Pacific Charter School Development, where he developed over 50 public charter school facilities, raised more than $30M in new philanthropic funding, and scaled the organization as it expanded into three new states. Eli has served as a director at the Broad Foundation and led a region for Platform Learning, a tutoring company focused on low income students. Prior to focusing on education, Eli worked in a strategic management capacity for a technology startup and as a strategy consultant for Andersen Consulting and USWEB/CKS.
Eli serves on the board of directors of Capital Impact Partners and Pacific Charter School Development as well as the Diversity Council for code.org. He earned his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BBA from Howard University.
