Michael Barth
Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Michael has been designing innovative new schools and academic programs for over 12 years. Prior to founding upublic, Michael worked at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. on projects related to both school reform and electronic learning, where he contributed to the vision and framework behind the country’s first national learning portal for adult education. He also consulted on the design and implementation of two charter schools in New York City, ran his own school on Central Park West, consulted on several major education technology initiatives including Kaplan's online school of education, and worked with the Edison Project. While at Edison, Michael collaborated on the design of their national high school model, and was instrumental in making character and ethics a pervasive element of the project’s K-12 learning environment.

In addition to his responsibilities at upublic, Michael serves on the advisory board for Volunteers of America - Greater New York, and on the board of directors for upublic Education Fund. Michael founded the non-profit organization to conduct research that is more relevant to the real-time needs of teachers and learners in the classroom, and to provide a more reliable mechanism for philanthropists to fund high-quality, sustainable education initiatives in the U.S. and abroad.

Michael is currently writing his doctoral dissertation in Philosophy and Education at Columbia University, where he was a 2004-2005 Educational Policy Fellow. Michael holds an Ed.M. from Columbia University, an M.A. from St. John’s College in Annapolis, and a B.A. in English Literature from Clark University.

James Potter
Director of Business Development

Before joining the upublic team, James was an associate at LarraineVial in structured products and helped create the first bond index for the Chilean fixed income market. James also directed new business initiatives for two successful interactive media start-ups in Manhattan, and most recently worked with the newly formed Leadership Academy of the New York City Department of Education to design a best practices sharing system for public school principals.

James holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, with a focus on education and finance, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Vermont.

Jonathan Hall
Director of Technology

Jonathan has served technology-based education initiatives at leading academic institutions for over a decade. As a student at Harvard, he trained faculty to teach in the University's first wired classrooms and helped design early academic Web sites and eLearning spaces. Jonathan has since lead a broad range of educational technology efforts, first at Columbia University's Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CNMTL) and now at upublic, where he created a web-based suite of solutions for teacher assessment and professional development that is currently being piloted in the New York City public school system.

Jonathan holds a B.A. in the Study of Religion from Harvard University, and is a doctoral student in communications at Columbia University.

Prior to assuming his current position at upublic, Cary’s principal work was in international law and human rights. He was Program Director for the International Bill of Rights Project (IBOR) at the University of California and served as a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission at the 2003 Geneva Convention in Geneva, Switzerland. The culmination of his work with IBOR included the drafting of the Youth Involvement Educational Leadership Directive (YIELD Program), a civic education program for high school seniors in California public schools.

Cary was a 2004-2005 Educational Policy Fellow at Columbia University, Teachers College, where he also earned an M.A. in Leadership, Policy and Politics. He holds a B.A. in Law and Society from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Dakai Li
Director of U.S.-China Initiatives

From his position as manager of Columbia University’s Center on Chinese Education (CCE), Dakai brings to upublic a wealth of experience and relationships in China. At the Center, Dakai was responsible for building relations with international organizations, government agencies and educational institutions, as well as organizing numerous training programs for Chinese officials and educators, and contributing to the body of research on China’s education development.

Prior to his position at CCE, Dakai was a manager at New Oriental Education and Technology, the largest provider of private education services in China. During his time there, Dakai’s product development and marketing initiatives were responsible for increasing the company’s total revenue by nearly 10%. He has also recruited and trained new teachers, and taught over 50,000 students across China.

Dakai holds a B.S. in computer science from Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, and is currently a doctoral candidate in organization and leadership at Columbia University where he also serves as vice-president of the Asia-Pacific Development Society.

Stephen Lynch
Director of School Architecture

Stephen is a registered architect and graduated with a Masters in Architecture from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. After a year of coordinating efforts to convert New York City armories into community recreational and learning centers, he worked for Richard Dattner and Partners Architects on large scale public projects in New York City including the Hudson River Park in Manhattan.

Stephen is currently a partner at Caliper Studio, a multidisciplinary architecture and fabrication firm in Brooklyn. His projects blend innovative design with social responsibility for improving communities.