When Alejandro Gac-Artigas was seven, his family immigrated to the United States, escaping political persecution and seeking educational opportunities. He published a memoir at 12, chronicling his challenges transitioning to life in America. In the process, he became as passionate about the education of others as he was about his own. After graduating from Harvard in 2009, he spent two years as a first grade teacher in Philadelphia. While there, Alejandro became frustrated that his students – and millions more in low-income communities – lacked continuous access to learning at home and school. As a result, they face chronic, summertime reading losses in elementary school that account for two-thirds of the achievement gap in high school. Alejandro founded Springboard Collaborative in 2011 to close the reading achievement gap by coaching teachers, training family members, and incentivizing learning. Alejandro has since been honored as “one of the world’s best emerging social innovators” by Echoing Green, a leading impact investor that selected 20 startups from 3,500 global applicants. He was also named one of Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 in 2014, and recognized as one of two national recipients of the Claneil Emerging Leaders Fund. Alejandro is an alumnus of Teach for America and McKinsey & Company. He holds a B.A. with high honors from Harvard University and an M.S. in Urban Education from the University of Pennsylvania.