Gideon Stein

Gideon Stein (born December 19, 1971, in Washington, DC) is an entrepreneur and education activist. He is the founder and CEO of the digital literacy company LightSail Education, treasurer of Chalkbeat and a member of the board of directors of New Classrooms and Stand for Children, a national education advocacy organization. He is the former vice chairman of the board of Success Academy Charter Schools, the high performing charter management organization in New York City.

Stein graduated with honors from Wesleyan University with a degree in Economics and History. He attended St Edmund Hall at Oxford University as a Visiting Scholar in Development Economics and European History.

Stein is the founder and CEO of LightSail Education, a Common Core-aligned, tablet-based literacy solution for K-12. He is also a partner with Argyle Holdings LLC, a real estate development company of commercial properties in Northern Manhattan. Stein was formerly founder, chairman and CEO of Omnipod, Inc.,a leading on-demand provider of real-time messaging to the enterprise market, until its sale in 2005 to MessageLabs Group, Ltd., one of the world’s largest private software companies (and now a division of Symantec). Stein was a founding partner of MR Ventures, a private investment firm with a portfolio of companies concentrated in media, commerce and software. Stein also served on the board of directors of the Real Silk Investment Company, a publicly traded regulated investment company, until its sale to Lord Abbett Affiliated Funds.

Stein is a board member of New Classrooms as well serving as treasurer of Chalkbeat, a leading non-profit education news outlet for New York City, Denver, Indianapolis and Memphis. He serves on the board of directors of Stand for Children, a national education advocacy organization, and the Moriah Fund, a private foundation.