Mike Feinberg

Dr. Mike Feinberg serves as President and Co-Founder of the Texas School Venture Fund (TXSVF) and Career For All, organizations dedicated to expanding the availability and diversity of quality schools in communities seeking more educational options. Career For All has launched several educational institutions and programs, including Eastex Jensen Neighborhood School, Westchase Neighborhood School, WorkTexas adult trade school, WorkTexas Premier High School at Gallery Furniture, Neighborhood Preschools, Project Remix Ventures at Harris County Juvenile Probation Department, and the Shawn M. Hurwitz Fellowship for education leaders.

Before his work with TXSVF, Mike co-founded and led KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program), a national network comprising over 270 public charter schools from PreK through 12th grade, aimed at preparing students from underserved communities for success in college and beyond. Mike holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania (1991) and a Master of Education from National-Louis University (2005). He also received honorary doctorates from Yale University (2010) and Duke University (2015), and was honored with the National Community Service Award from Spelman College in 2015. Additionally, he is a member of the Society of Fellows of the University of Houston’s Honors College.

After graduating from Penn, Mike joined Teach For America, teaching bilingual fifth grade in Houston, Texas. In 1994, he co-founded KIPP and established KIPP Academy Houston a year later. He co-founded the KIPP Foundation in 2000 to help scale the KIPP model. In 2004, Dr. Feinberg was named an Ashoka Fellow, recognizing his innovative social entrepreneurship. In 2005, he delivered the commencement address for the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts and Sciences and spearheaded the creation of NOW College Prep (New Orleans West), a public K-8 school for Hurricane Katrina evacuees, which opened in just 10 days. This effort was chronicled in Jay Mathews' book “Work Hard. Be Nice.”

Mike has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, CBS 60 Minutes, and other media outlets. He is married to Colleen Dippel, and they have two children: Gus, age 19, and Abadit, age 14, who they adopted from Ethiopia in 2011. As a result, Mike is an enthusiastic supporter of high school football and AAU basketball.