Brian Jacobs

Brian is an education entrepreneur who has focused his efforts on making instructional content more accessible and pedagogically valuable for students, faculty, and academic institutions. During his time as both a student and professor of political philosophy at Cornell University, Brian saw first-hand how the high costs and dated nature of conventional textbooks adversely affect classroom learning. In 1999, Brian launched his first company, Akademos, a web-based company that focuses on new models of distributing physical and digital course materials. After leading Akademos for more than 12 years, Brian left his operating role to found panOpen. Previously, Brian was Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Government and Visiting Fellow at the Institute for German Cultural Studies, both at Cornell University. He received fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, University of Goettingen, and Yale University. He’s currently a mentor in the StartEd EdTech Accelerator housed at the NYU Edtech Incubator. Brian earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in English and political science at the State University of New York at Albany, and a doctorate in political philosophy and social theory at Cornell University.