Brad Bernatek joins Education First with over 25 years of experience in the private, public, and non-profit sectors focused on improving the long-term success of young people, particularly those furthest from opportunity, through successful execution of large-scale social initiatives. He leads strategic engagement to grow Education First’s sector impact by developing long-term relationships with leading educational organizations to understand their strategic priorities and support them in achieving long-term impact goals.
He worked as strategy consultant at PwC Consulting for five years before transitioning to K-12 education at Seattle Public Schools where he was a member of the superintendent’s cabinet as Director of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment leading district-wide performance management initiatives as a Broad Resident. He also held a leadership role at FSG Social Impact Consultants as a Director of the Education & Youth practice focused on strategy, evaluation, and research projects with foundations, non-profits, and government agencies in the K-12 and postsecondary education sectors. He was a senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for nearly eight years where he developed $85M in grants across multiple investment portfolios including next generation student assessment, personalized learning, education technology, and social emotional learning. Most recently, he served as a Managing Director at WGU (Western Governors University) Labs where he managed a mission-oriented seed-stage investment fund along with an edtech accelerator focused on go-to-market strategies, sales enablement, awareness building, and WGU partnership development.
Brad is a first-generation college graduate and holds a B.A. in history from the University of Michigan, an MBA from the Kelley School of Business Indiana University, and an M.A. in financial economics from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He lives just north of Seattle, Washington in the town of Edmonds with his wife and 14-year-old daughter. Brad enjoys traveling with his family, working on his 1910 home, hiking in the Pacific Northwest, and cheering on the Michigan Wolverines.
