Co-CEO, Transcend

Jeff Wetzler

The essential question animating Jeff’s career — whether in working with children, educators, or executives — has always been: how can we create learning experiences that are deep, powerful, and enduring?

In 2015, Jeff co-founded Transcend, together with Aylon Samouha.  Transcend supports communities to create and spread extraordinary, equitable learning environments.  Prior to Transcend, Jeff spent a decade in senior leadership roles at Teach For America, a national nonprofit dedicated to educational opportunity for all children.  For the majority of that time, Jeff served as Chief Learning Officer and EVP of Teacher Preparation, Support, and Development, where his teams focused on optimizing the training and ongoing support of TFA’s thousands of corps members nationally.  Before that, Jeff worked at Monitor Group, an international consulting firm, where he advised executives, focusing on strategy, adult learning, and organizational development.

Jeff was a founding board member of Leadership Prep Charter Schools and has served on the boards of Uncommon Schools NYC and the National Academy of Advanced Teacher Education.  He currently serves as board chair of New Classrooms Innovation Partners.

Jeff was a Fellow in the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship and is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.  He earned a doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University, where his dissertation research examined how to apply design thinking to advance innovation in education systems.  Jeff earned a bachelor’s in psychology from Brown University, where he co-founded and taught extensively through Providence Science Outreach, equipping university students to do hands-on STEM learning with teachers and children in local schools.  During his time at Brown, Jeff also studied under Ted Sizer, whose beliefs about learning and school design profoundly shaped his worldview.

Jeff lives in New York with his wife and two kids, who constantly fuel his inspiration and urgency in this work.  More about Jeff’s background, values and beliefs in this work can be found in this interview,  this podcast, and this talk he gave at Google.

Team

Join Our Team

Working at Transcend presents you with an opportunity to work with kind, passionate, collaborative, and feedback-driven teammates to reimagine the future of schools. Our teammates partner with schools and leaders to redesign schools and accelerate innovation.

Job Opportunities

Transcend is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates nationally.