BOARD

Stratsi Kulinski is the founder and President of NewU, the first 3-year Bachelor’s degree university in the US. Prior to that he served as President of the American University in Bulgaria, a NECHE-accredited university. He worked in media, telecom, and finance all around the globe prior to finding his passion for higher education. Mr. Kulinski earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has a BA in Business Administration from the American University in Bulgaria, where he was one of the students in AUBG's inaugural class back in 1991, donated to the school through the years, and served on the Board of Trustees and as President.

Cody is a data-driven storyteller, communicating complicated firm, industry, and ESG trends simply and succinctly. Her professional strategy involves engaging stakeholders and SMEs, working across silos to identify collaborative initiatives. As a systems thinker, she applies critical thinking to both the big picture and the details to find ways to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. As a lifelong learner, Cody thrives in situations with growth potential. She is comfortable with public speaking and has presented before regulators, academics, trade unions, and corporate board members at top Accounting and ESG conferences. Cody is passionate about financial literacy and role of technology and human/social capital in generating impact and growth.

S. Mitchell Pinkowski is a devoted educator with a distinguished academic career, and a founding faculty member at NewU University. He attended Deerfield Academy and earned honors degrees from Emory University (B. A.) and St. John’s College’s Graduate Institute (M.A.). He now serves on the English faculty at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, teaching college writing, rhetoric, and literature. Mitch built his career teaching in college prep schools in New England and the Mid-Atlantic region, and as an Academic Director to the Great Books summer programs at Amherst and Haverford Colleges. He served as an English Department Head for 10 years, a teacher of AP Literature for 15 years, and held various positions as both a mentor of newer faculty and as a pioneer of new educational trends. He has spoken to national and regional audiences on “How to Revolutionize the English Classroom” and has a lengthy professional commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion work, to experiential education, and to engagement in the local community. As a global citizen, Mitch has lived and taught in Japan, lived for five years in Saudi Arabia as a youth, and has traveled to more than 30 countries and all 50 of the United States.

Kenneth Ward is the Executive Director of College Bound, Inc. in Washington, D.C. As a Fulbright Memorial scholar in Japan and a seasoned D.C. educator and administrator for 15 years, he has been instrumental in creating academic and personal enrichment programs for students, such as the Young Ambassadors program. He has participated in the International Teacher Exchange program where he studied best practices in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia and has also volunteered in Ethiopia. Mr. Ward holds a Bachelor's degree in communications from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he matriculated on a Pogue Scholarship and a Master’s degree in education from Trinity. Mr. Ward participated in the Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program at Georgetown and was bestowed the 2012 Harvey Elliott Beech Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina for his outstanding personal achievements. He serves on the Advisory Board at UNC for the Learning and Writing Center and the Friends of the Library. He is an active member of the Perry Community Center Services Center and Achievement Prep boards.

Emmanuel “Manu” Smadja is a management consultant turned FinTech entrepreneur and the co-founder of MPOWER Financing, which he launched in 2014 after experiencing firsthand the financial challenges faced by international students in the United States. MPOWER enables high-promise international students to access education at top universities in the U.S. and Canada.

Over the past 11 years, MPOWER has grown into a profitable, 250-person company with international offices, more than 500 university partners, $1 billion in loan originations, and multiple industry awards. The company now supports over 10,000 international graduate students each year in pursuing their educational goals.

Prior to MPOWER, Manu spent nearly four years at McKinsey & Company, advising financial institutions, development banks, and central banks across Europe, the U.S., and Africa. Earlier in his career, he held analytical and strategy roles at Capital One, Vistaprint, and Celanese.

Manu holds an MBA from INSEAD, an MS in Systems and Information Engineering, and a BS in Computer Science and Cognitive Science from the University of Virginia. He lives in Washington, DC, and enjoys playing soccer, dancing Bachata, and spending time with his daughter.