Rhodes Entrepreneurs Circle Members
Meet the members of the Rhodes Entrepreneurs Circle, an inspiring group of founders, innovators, and leaders from the Rhodes community. View their profiles below to learn more about their ventures, areas of expertise, and how they are shaping the future through innovation and leadership.
Join the Entrepreneurs Circle -
Zohar Atkins
Zohar Atkins
Zohar Atkins (New Jersey & Balliol 2010) is the founder and president of Lightning, an AI-native learning platform for the intellectually curious. Zohar is also the founder and director of Etz Hasadeh, a Center for Existential Torah. In 2016, The Jewish Week named him one of the “36 under 36 Changemakers in Jewish Life.” The winner of a 2018 Eric Gregory Award for Poetry, Zohar is the author of Unframing Existence and Nineveh.
Andrew Barnes
Andrew Barnes
Andrew Barnes (Queensland & Exeter 2014) is the co-founder and former CEO of Go1, a leading platform in corporate and adult learning. Since its inception in 2015, Go1 has reached 50 million learners, covering topics from compliance training to upskilling. In addition to Go1, Andrew has invested in and helped advise a number of other startups and social enterprises largely focused on education and health.
Jamie Beaton
Jamie Beaton
Jamie Beaton (New Zealand & St John's 2018) is the co-founder and CEO of Crimson Education, the global leader in college admissions consulting, helping more than 1300 students gaining admission to Ivy League schools. Jamie is also the founder of Crimson Global Academy, a fully-accredited global online high school dedicated to leveling the playing field in world-leading university admissions. Through his work, Jamie continues to transform the landscape of education, empowering students worldwide to reach their academic and career goals.
Martin Bittner
Martin Bittner
Martin Bittner (Germany & Trinity 2014) is the co-founder and CEO of Redouble AI, a YC-backed technology company that develops and implements enterprise AI solutions in regulated industries. Before that, he was the CEO of Arctoris, a pharma workflow automation company headquartered in Oxford which he co-founded in 2016.
Thomas Brennan
Thomas Brennan
Dr Thomas Brennan (Diocesan College, Rondebosch & Keble 2004) is the co-founder and CEO of Franc, South Africa's #1 digital wealth advisor. Previously, Thomas was the R&D Manager at Discovery Limited, leading product development.
Joshua Chauvin
Joshua Chauvin
Dr. Joshua Chauvin (Ontario & New College 2011) is an entrepreneur and psychologist dedicated to advancing global mental health through innovative technologies and enterprises. As Chief of Staff and strategy lead at Koa Health, he was instrumental in the company’s spin-out from Telefónica and its successful navigation of multiple investment rounds and acquisitions. He has previously worked as Partnerships Manager for Mindstrong Health and as a research consultant for the Canadian Mental Health Association. He has been involved in a number of anti-stigmatization campaigns in Canada and the UK, and has advised a number of mental health charities including the Anna Freud Centre, Jack.org and batyr. Josh holds a PhD in Experimental Psychology from Oxford, where he was both a Rhodes Scholar and Canadian Centennial Scholar.
Mallory Dwinal-Palisch
Mallory Dwinal-Palisch
Mallory Dwinal-Palisch (Washington & Brasenose 2009) is the Chancellor of Reach University and co-founder and CEO of Craft Education System. Starting as a Spanish teacher with Teach for America, Mallory later co-founded Oxford Day Academy, a charter school in East Palo Alto, CA. This experience led her to co-found Reach University, the first regionally accredited university offering apprenticeship-based degrees.
Jeffrey Fasegha
Jeffrey Fasegha
Jeffrey Fasegha (Prairies & Jesus 2021) is the Co-Founder of Deducta, a data intelligence platform for global procurement teams. Prior to that, he was Co-Founder and CEO of Fyyne, a startup building business management tools for independent beauty artists. Fasegha's experience also includes M&A investment banking at Evercore, consulting at Bain & Company, and a career as a semi-pro ice hockey player.
Kumeren Govender
Kumeren Govender
Dr Kumeren Govender (KwaZulu-Natal & Balliol 2018) is a biotech entrepreneur and physician-scientist focused on health innovation and strategy. He co-founded a Y-Combinator-backed precision medicine start-up, served as Chief Scientific Officer (Pathogens Programme) at the Ellison Institute of Technology, and is a Fellow of the International Strategy Forum. He advises on medical AI and biosecurity for organisations including OpenAI and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
Greg Gunn
Greg Gunn
Greg Gunn (Connecticut & Oriel 1992) co-founded Lingo Ventures, where he makes early-stage investments in education and workforce technologies. He also co-founded Wireless Generation (now Amplify), an educational software company that serves millions of students annually with innovative assessment and instruction products.
Alex Johnston
Alex Johnston
Alex Johnston (Massachusetts & Lincoln 1994) is the founding partner of Building Impact Partners, a philanthropy advising firm that works together with the philanthropic community to build the knowledge, skills, and mindsets that transform people and systems and advance a more just, equitable world. Alex is a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and serves on a number of nonprofit boards including FaithActs for Education and the Trust for Learning.
Arani Kajenthira
Arani Kajenthira
Arani Kajenthira (Ontario & Linacre 2006) is founder and CEO of Impact Pollinator, which she founded to enhance capital flows for impact in the investment industry. Prior to her current work, Arani was Managing Director of Investing at Good Chaos, a single-family office in Chicago where she was a founding team member and built and led the investing function, and she has also spent time in philanthropy, management consulting, and academia.
David Klemm
David Klemm
David Klemm (Germany & Hertford 1995) is the co-founder of WeatherPromise, a traveltech startup offering weather guarantees for vacations and outdoor activities around the world. After a long career in investment banking and corporate finance, David has also served as CFO and Managing Director at Circ and SuperVista AG.
Bogdan Knezevic
Bogdan Knezevic
Bogdan Knezevic (Prairies & Trinity 2015) is the co-founder and CEO of Kaleidoscope Bio, a software development company that allows R&D teams to track their science across teams and tools, so that they never miss a critical deadline and can get products to market 1+ years sooner. With Kaleidoscope, leaders can collaborate on projects, plan around compounds, candidates, or designs, and manage workflows, all in one spot.
Lukas Lange
Lukas Lange
Lukas Lange (Germany & Magdalen 2015) is the CEO & Co-Founder of Probably Genetic. Probably Genetic is changing the lives of patients living with severe, complex diseases. Our data platform is used by drug developers and patient advocacy groups to develop and launch treatments for these patients. Our technology discovers undiagnosed patients online, analyzes their disease state using machine learning and at-home testing, and enables compliant communication with patients. In doing so, we help patients access diagnoses, clinical trials, and treatments as early as possible.
Josh Lospinoso
Josh Lospinoso
Josh Lospinoso (New Jersey & Magdalen 2009) is the co-founder and CEO of Shift5, a cybersecurity company that provides hardware and software solutions to defend operational technology (OT) platforms. Prior to Shift5, he co-founded RedOwl Analytics, an insider threat detection platform acquired by Raytheon/Forcepoint in 2017. Josh is also the author of C++ Crash Course (No Starch Press, 2019), dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles spanning multiple disciplines, and multiple patents.
Shantel Marekera
Shantel Marekera
Shantel Marekera (Zimbabwe & Lady Margaret Hall 2019) founded the Little Dreamers Foundation in Harare, Zimbabwe. The foundation runs an affordable preschool in Budiriro Cabs, Zimbabwe, for low-income young girls whose guardians cannot afford to send them to local preschools. Shantel is also an Analyst at the World Bank, where she works to improve women’s economic opportunities in 190 countries. In addition, she serves as the Women, Business and the Law team's focal point for Eastern and Southern Africa and contributes to other core functions including customer relationship management, production, fundraising, and dissemination.
John McCall MacBain
John McCall MacBain
Second Century Founder of the Rhodes Trust and awarded the Oxford Sheldon Medal in 2017. Education: McGill University; Wadham College, Oxford; Harvard Business School. Founder, President and CEO, Trader Classified Media, 1987-2006. Chairman, European Climate Foundation, since 2008. Land and sea commercial pilot. Served as a Trustee since June 2010, and as Emeritus Trustee since 2018.
Rakhi Mehra
Rakhi Mehra
Rakhi Mehra (India & Lady Margaret Hall 2001) is a social innovator and educator with a background in micro-finance and scaling mission-driven ventures. As a former practitioner and now leading programs in education, she seeks to bridge the worlds of practice and academia to foster entrepreneurial mindsets and create impactful experiential learning.
Rakhi co-founded MHS CITY LAB in India, an interdisciplinary social venture focused on inclusive housing leveraging digital technology for safer and resilient solutions. Her work centers on designing multi-stakeholder projects that drive social impact through innovation and collaboration. She is currently based in Bhutan as program lead on Entrepreneurship with Druk Gyalpo's Institute, Adjunct Faculty at IE Business School in Madrid and Franklin University Switzerland in Lugano.
Joyce Meng
Joyce Meng
Joyce Meng (Virginia & Balliol 2008) is the founder of FACT Capital, a global concentrated investment fund. Joyce is also the co-founder and CEO of Givology, an online P2P giving marketplace that connects donors to high-impact grassroots education projects and student scholarships in the developing world.
Sue Meng
Sue Meng
Sue Meng (New York & Lincoln 2003) is Managing Director and General Counsel of Duquesne Family Office, LLC, the investment firm of Stanley Druckenmiller. Sue leads Duquesne’s private investments across a wide range of industries. Previously, Sue Meng was a corporate partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.
Rachael Merritt
Rachael Merritt
Rachael Merritt (Michigan & Exeter 2022) is a co-founder and CEO of Ruddr.ai, a technology company transforming professional events through agentic networking and AI-powered attendee optimization. Prior to Ruddr, she earned two degrees from Oxford with a research backgrounds in computer-human interaction, design, and AI policy.
Errol R. Norwitz, MD, PhD, MBA
Errol R. Norwitz, MD, PhD, MBA
Dr. Errol Norwitz (South Africa-at-Large & University 1988) is currently Co-Founder and Chief Innovation & Impact Officer at CognitiveCare, Inc., where he drives strategic initiatives aimed at improving health outcomes and financial performance through innovative AI-driven solutions, with particular focus on maternal-child health. Dr. Norwitz has also held numerous executive leadership roles at Harvard, Yale, and Tufts Schools of Medicine. Most recently, he was President & CEO of Newton-Wellesley Hospital, a top-ranked community-based academic medical center within the Mass General Brigham Healthcare network in Eastern Massachusetts.
Jim O’Connell
Jim O’Connell
Jim O’Connell (Florida & St Peter's 2014) is a co-founder and managing partner of Grove Investments, a New York City-based asset management firm founded in 2023.
Yaa-Hemaa Obiri-Yeboah
Yaa-Hemaa Obiri-Yeboah
Yaa-Hemaa Obiri-Yeboah (British Columbia & St John's 2003) is the founder of The Y Variable, a career training and professional development consultancy that bridges the gap between university and college and the real-world skills needed to build a successful, impactful career. A former executive in the Canadian federal government, Yaa-Hemaa brings over two decades of experience to her work with Gen Z and early-career professionals. She is also a published writer on race, identity, and immigration, with articles featured in HuffPost and New Canadian Media, and has collaborated with organizations dedicated to education and the advancement of racialized youth.
Randal Pinkett, PhD, MBA
Randal Pinkett, PhD, MBA
Dr. Randall Pinkett (New Jersey & Keble 1994) has established himself as an entrepreneur, technologist, speaker, author, medial personality, and advocate for justice. He was the founder of four previously successful companies and is currently the Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of his fifth venture, BCT Partners. Dr. Pinkett was also the first and only African American to win the top honor on the hit reality television show, The Apprentice.
Jay Ruckelshaus
Jay Ruckelshaus
Jay Ruckelshaus (Indiana & St John's 2016) is the co-founder and head of partnerships and policy at Gravity, a company designed to help businesses and their supply chain partners boost their competitiveness and save money by reducing their carbon footprint. Jay also founded Ramp Less Traveled in 2013, to support individuals with spinal cord injuries in the pursuit of higher education through a unique combination of scholarship and mentoring opportunities.
David Sherwood
David Sherwood
David Sherwood (Western Australia & Pembroke 2013) co-founded BibliU, an education technology company that specializes in providing digital textbooks, monographs, and courseware more cost-effectively for universities, libraries, and other higher education institutions. Dave is also the Co-Founder and Chairman of Teach Learn Grow Inc., serves as a Board Advisor at Purlos, and is a Founding Member of the Edtech Founders Club.
Vitaliy ('Vits') Voronkov
Vitaliy ('Vits') Voronkov
Vits Voronkov (Namibia & Linacre 2009) is the co-founder and CEO of Maliwa Pay, where he is working on building a stablecoin-based B2B payments platform for emerging markets. Vits is also the founder and CEO of Anisim Ventures, investing in and advising tech ventures and projects including Web3, fintech, and edtech. Vits was previously Cofounder and President of Valeon, an edtech platform, which he scaled and exited after growing it to a team of ~300 people, and having raised funding from top investors such as Global Chairmen of McKinsey and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Vits also previously served as a senior executive at two listed fintechs, Coinbase and Wise, and started his career at Goldman Sachs.
Nathaniel (Nat) Ware
Nathaniel (Nat) Ware
Nat Ware (New South Wales & Magdalen 2011) is the founder and CEO of Forte, a new way to finance retraining at no cost to individuals or governments, and without needing philanthropy. It's a way to have as much impact as scholarships, but with far more scalability. Forte is also a marketplace and management platform for short-course education around the world. Prior to Forte, Nat founded 180 Degrees Consulting, the world's largest consultancy for non-profits and social enterprises, which aims to develop the next generation of social impact leaders in the process.
Edward Yee
Edward Yee
Edward Yee (Singapore & St Catherine's 2019) is the Head of Strategic Projects at FAR.AI. Edward is a serial social entrepreneur whose career uniquely bridges impact, finance, and tech. His ventures have received funding from leaders like Sequoia Capital, the UNDP, Y Combinator, and SV Angel. His contributions have earned him recognition as an Obama Leader, the Commonwealth Youth Award for Asia, and a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.