Daniel Pianko

Daniel Pianko Prior to University Ventures, Daniel was an investor in and advisor to education companies in their strategic and development initiatives. With over ten years of experience in the education industry, Daniel has built a reputation as a trusted advisor and educational entrepreneur who honors the traditions and values of higher education. Daniel began his career as an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs. At Goldman, Daniel advised on over a billion dollars of transactions including mergers and equity financings. He entered the education industry as Director of Strategy and Planning at LearnNow, a high growth charter school company that was acquired by Edison Schools. Since his initial work with charter schools, Daniel has served as the lead operating executive of a 1,200 student university with multiple campuses, on the board of one of the largest distributor of K-12 technology products and as the lead analyst of an education focused hedge fund. Currently, Daniel sits on the board of Altius Education Inc. Mr. Pianko is a frequent speaker at industry events and conventions and his article "Venture Capital: Looking Outside the Education Sector" was recently published as part of an American Enterprise Institute series by Harvard University Press. Mr. Pianko graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University and received a M.B.A. and M.A. in Education from Stanford University, where he chaired Stanford's Business of Education Conference.