Eli Kennedy

Eli currently serves as the CEO of Students Rising Above and has over two decades of leadership experience in the impact sector. Most recently, he was a partner at Acacia Partners, where he led the development of growth strategies for nonprofit and for-profit organizations in educational technology, healthcare, charter schools, and philanthropy. Before this, Eli was the CEO of SMASH, a program focused on increasing the number of students of color pursuing STEM. During his five years at SMASH, he spearheaded the program’s rapid growth, tripling the number of students served, launching an internship program, and expanding into five new states.

Eli began his career as a strategy consultant at Andersen Consulting and MarchFirst. After earning his MBA, he transitioned into the impact sector, leading the West Coast region for Platform Learning, a tutoring company serving low-income students. He then served as a Director at The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, where he managed over $80M in philanthropic investments. Eli also served as President and CEO of Blueprint (formerly PCSD), where he developed over 50 public charter school facilities, raised more than $30M in philanthropic funding, and expanded the organization into three new regions.

Eli has served on the boards of Capital Impact Partners, Discovery Education, and The Berkeley Public Schools Fund, and currently sits on the Structured Finance Committee for the Charter School Growth Fund, and the Boards of First Tee-Oakland and Blueprint.

He holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Finance from Howard University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Eli lives in Berkeley, California, where he enjoys golfing, reading, and watching his daughter play volleyball.