Stig Leschly

Stig is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School where he teaches entrepreneurship.  Stig was also a lecturer on entrepreneurship at HBS from 2001-2004.  Apart from his work at HBS, Stig is a practicing entrepeneur.  He is currently the President and Founder of the Postsecondary Commission, a college accreditor of outcomes-focused and innovative new colleges.

Stig's work as an entrepreneur includes:

• Founder and President, Postsecondary Commission (2021-current).  The Postsecondary Commission ("PSC") is a new college accreditor of outcomes-focused and innovative colleges. It is currently seeking legal recognition from the US Department of Education.  PSC's mission is to create a movement of nonprofit colleges that create substantial and measurable economic mobility gains for students, that pursue genuinely innovative and student-centric designs, and that are willing to be held accountable for outcomes related to economic mobility in exchange for access to public funding. PSC's initial name, in 2021 and 2022, was College101.

• Cofounder, CEO and Board Chair, Fishtank Learning (2015-2020).  Stig co-founded and led Fishtank Learning, a leading open-source curriculum website that offers teachers and school leaders free or low-cost access to high-quality, standards-aligned, and proven instructional materials in core K-12 subjects. Fishtank Learning is one of the largest and fastest growing open-source curriculum websites in the US. Fishtank Learning was launched as a subsidiary at Match Education and eventually spun out as a lone-standing non-profit organization. Stig is currently the board chair of Fishtank Learning.

• Cofounder, CEO and Board Chair, Duet.org (2014-2020).  Stig co-founded and oversaw Duet, an innovative college and jobs organization that helps young adults from low-income households earn high-quality, affordable college degrees and qualify for career-track jobs. Duet.org was launched as a subsidiary at Match Education and eventually spun out as a lone-standing non-profit organization. Stig is currently the board chair of Duet.

• CEO, Match Education (2011-2018).  Stig was the CEO of Match Education, a nationally recognized education non-profit that operates high-performing K-12 charter schools and an innovative graduate school of education that trains and grants Master’s degrees to teachers.

• Founder and Managing Partner, Newark Charter School Fund (2005-2010).  Stig was the founder and CEO of the Newark Charter School Fund, an operating foundation dedicated to public school reform and improvement in Newark, NJ. The foundation partnered closely with Newark's then-Mayor, Cory Booker, on city-wide education reform, and it was a joint venture between the Gates Foundation, the Walton Foundation, and several other prominent national philanthropies focused on US school reform.

• Founder and CEO, Exchange.com and EVP, Amazon.com (1997-2001).  After graduating from Harvard's business and law schools, Stig was the founder and CEO of Exchange.com, an early competitor to eBay.com. Exchange.com primarily operated websites for buyers and sellers of hard-to-find books and music titles. In 1999, Amazon.com purchased Exchange.com to help launch its move into intermediated business-to-consumer commerce. After the acquisition, Stig worked at Amazon.com in various general management and strategic planning capacities and reported to Jeff Bezos as his "shadow."

Stig holds a BA in Comparative Literature (summa cum laude, Phi beta Kappa) from Princeton University (1992) and a combined JD-MBA degree from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School (1998). 

Stig lives in Brookline, MA with his wife, Sherry Riva. They have three daughters.