Team

Ben Nelson is Founder and CEO of Minerva Project and Founder of Minerva University, and a visionary with a mission to reinvent higher education. Ben founded Minerva in 2011 with the goal of nurturing critical wisdom for the sake of the world through a systematic and evidence-based approach to learning. Nelson has since built Minerva University, ranked as the most innovative university in the world, and has developed a business to share Minerva's unique approach with other like-minded institutions, corporations, and governments. Minerva Project has since accelerated the creation of groundbreaking new programs, new colleges, and entirely new universities worldwide. Prior to Minerva, Nelson spent ten years at Snapfish, where he helped build the company from startup to the world’s largest personal publishing service. Serving as CEO from 2005 through 2010, Nelson began his tenure at Snapfish by leading the company’s sale to Hewlett Packard for $300 million. Nelson holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he created a blueprint for curricular reform in his first year, the principles from which he drew to frame Minerva.

Art Markman, Ph.D. is the Chief Academic Officer at Minerva Project. He is a leading cognitive scientist who spent 35 years as a faculty member and administrator primarily at the University of Texas where he worked for 27 years. As a researcher, he published over 150 research papers on topics including reasoning, decision making, and motivation. As an administrator, Art was founding director of the Human Dimensions of Organizations Program, executive director of a think-tank focused on economic development, and he served as Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, where he oversaw the academic mission of the university. Art also brings insights from his field to a broader audience through his blogs at Fast Company and Psychology Today as well as his radio show/podcast Two Guys on Your Head. He has written several books for broader audiences including Smart Thinking, Smart Change, Brain Briefs, and Bring Your Brain to Work.

Sharan C. Singh is Chief Growth Officer at Minerva Project. He is responsible for leading the creation of Minerva’s partnership ecosystem across these regions with a diverse range of institutions, including governments, corporations, multilateral organizations, education institutions and NGOs. Prior to Minerva, he worked in higher education as a senior administrator for 16 years and also as a management consultant. Singh graduated with a B.A. from Whittier College with a double major in International Relations and Business. He also holds an M.A. in International Business from Nova Southeastern and an M.A. in International Administration from the University of Miami.

Ayo Seligman is Chief Design Officer at Minerva Project, helping partners crystallize their institutional and program visions, innovation strategies, and new program designs. He collaborates closely with internal and partner teams to articulate the objectives, audiences, and market positioning for new institutions and programs, then to create high quality new learning experiences that help realize those visions. As a founding member of Minerva Project, Seligman helped architect the Minerva brand and design the student experience at Minerva University. Prior to Minerva, Seligman spent two decades as a brand and design consultant, working internationally with clients ranging from startups and social impact organizations to global Fortune 100 enterprises. He holds a B.A. in Design from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Joshua Fost is Chief Product Officer at Minerva Project. He has a diverse background centering on the intersections between science, philosophy, technology, and education. Before joining Minerva, Fost was an Assistant Professor at Portland State University, where he taught disciplinary courses on neurophilosophy, artificial intelligence, critical thinking and ethics, as well as interdisciplinary courses on artificial life, design and society, and the rise of modern physics. His background also includes six years as a private sector consultant and Chief Technology Officer for a diverse set of companies. In his time at Minerva, Fost has led and contributed to a wide range of academic projects and programs. Chief among these include the creation of a quantitative measure of knowledge transfer used to track student progress in the general education program; the use of Big Questions to focus first-year courses on a diverse array of enduring globally significant issues; creation and management of the Master of Science in Decision Analysis program and the Minerva Baccalaureate program for high school students; and oversight of institutional and educational research. Fost earned a Ph.D. in psychology and neuroscience from Princeton University, and a BA. in neuroscience and philosophy from Bowdoin College.

Audrey Giacomini is Managing Director of Programs at Minerva Project. Prior to joining Minerva Project, she worked for the World Innovation Summit for Education - Qatar Foundation, where she was in charge of promoting innovation in education through a diverse portfolio of initiatives in policy engagement, research and practitioner programs. She is deeply committed to harnessing educational innovation to empower learners with future-ready skills and to make quality education accessible to all. She has extensive experience in program design and management, partnership development and management, and events curation for the private, non-profit and public sectors. Audrey graduated with a dual Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris and the Freie Universität Berlin and a Master's degree in International Affairs from Sciences Po Paris.