Rusty Greiff
Senior Strategic Advisor to the CEO, Year Up United
Rusty Greiff currently serves as a Senior Strategic Advisor to the CEO, focused on launching a new innovation agenda and commercial initiatives for Year Up United, including new solutions and offerings that scale and accelerate quality job opportunity for YUU’s community with employers including the healthcare, advanced manufacturing and skilled trades sectors.
Rusty is a nationally recognized startup founder and edtech entrepreneur, Postsecondary and workforce innovator and impact investor with over 25-years leadership experience driving impact across the public and private sector. Rusty is Founder/Principal of the eQ group, a strategic advisory, investment and innovation studio focused on launching and scaling global workforce, online learning and future of work skilling products, platforms and partnerships with universities, corporations and large-scale investment funds and private foundations.
Currently, Rusty is an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School in the Social Entrepreneurship and System Change department working closely with faculty, students and practitioners to develop new curriculum and programs focused on AI, technology and social impact. Rusty has served as Chief Strategy and Growth Officer of Jobs for the Future (JFF), growing the organization in revenue, funding and staff, transforming the organization through numerous non-profit acquisitions, launching new lines of business, leading its 3-year strategic and operating plan and launching JFF’s first North Star. Rusty co-founded two successful Silicon Valley edtech startups, Grockit (aqcuired by Kaplan, Inc.) and Learnist and served as SVP, US and Global Programs, at 2U, Inc. (TWOU) where he oversaw a global team that launched online degrees, credentials, certificates, stackable courses, and masters degrees in over 75 universities including MIT, UVA, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, London School of Economics and Oxford. Previously, Rusty served as founding Managing Director for 1776 Impact Fund investing in over 15 education and future of work startups. And spent over 9-years with Sterling Partners, a leading education private equity fund, as a EVP, GM and President of its various education operating businesses.
Before his work in the private sector and with universities, Rusty served in the Clinton Administration, launching the AmeriCorps program at the Corporation for National and Community Service. Rusty was a Policy Analyst for Senator John Kerry’s leadership staff in the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. Rusty currently serves as a senior advisor and Board member for numerous universities, impact venture funds, foundations, edtech startups, and non-profit organizations. Rusty is a former NY Coro Leadership Fellow, and graduate of Washington University, St. Louis with magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors and received his MBA from Harvard Business School.
