Shai Reshef

Shai Reshef is an Israeli entrepreneur . In 2009, Reshef was named one of Fast Company magazine’s “100 Most Creative People in Business, selected by OneWorld as one of its “People of 2009”, awarded a fellowship by Ashoka and welcomed to the United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID) as a High-level Adviser. From 1989 to 2005, Reshef served as Chief Executive Officer and then Chairman of the Kidum Group—the largest for-profit educational services company based in Israel. Reshef joined Kidum in 1989 when it was a single product company with revenues of $100,000. Under his leadership, Kidum grew to become a company with annual revenues in excess of $25 million, with over 1,000 employees and 50,000 students a year. In 2005, he sold the company to Kaplan, Inc. , one of the world’s largest education companies and a subsidiary of the Washington Post. Between 2001 and 2004, while continuing as the chairman of Kidum, Reshef lived in the Netherlands where he chaired KIT eLearning, a subsidiary of Kidum. KIT is the eLearning partner of the University of Liverpool and the first online university outside of the United States . KIT provides MBA and M.Sc. degrees in IT. The company was not particularly successful and was acquired by Laureate Online Education in 2004. In January 2009, Reshef unveiled University of the People , a non-profit, tuition-free, online academic institution that aims to revolutionize higher education by making college-level studies accessible to students worldwide. Reshef has spoken internationally at conferences including DLD: Digital, Life, Design in Munich , Hacking Education in New York , the World Economic Forum on the Middle East in Amman , Jordan , UNDESA-GAID Global Forum in Monterrey , Mexico , and Fourth University Industry Council Symposium in Kolkata , India . He has also lectured several times at Yale Law School as part of the ISP Speaker series in [New Haven, CT]. Reshef holds an MA from the University of Michigan in Chinese Politics . Pasadena-based plan for online university draws interest . Laureate Online Education and K.I.T. eLearning B.V., the eLearning partner of the University of Liverpool, announce name change . It's Time to Give Back . Online Homework Helper Cramster Gets $3 million . [1] [2] Ars Technica, Internet connection + English = college degree .¹