George Cigale
Venture Partner at Peak State Ventures
New York, New York
Overview
Work Experience
President
2023 - Current
Joining as President of Teach to One to expand the reach of New Classroom's new paradigm for individualized math instruction to many more students and educators.
New Classrooms Innovation Partners provides innovative learning models for students.
Trustee, Board of Trustees
2013
Invited to join the Board of Trustees of Teachers College, Columbia University, the oldest and largest graduate school of education in the United States. Joined to help the Board think through technology strategy, and have been a driving force for building internal capacity to innovate and integrate technology into future TC offerings. Also sit on the Finance Committee and the Strategic Innovation Committee.
Regent, Board of Regents
2023
UMass Global is a non-profit affiliate of the University of Massachusetts. I was asked to join its governing board as an independent Regent.
Advisory Council Member
2014
The Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences (IBBS) represents the basic research effort at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where faculty, fellows, postdocs and students and staff study some of the most exciting problems in biomedical science today. Any type of research is possible in the IBBS -- in addition to our nine departments, we have several interdisciplinary research programs as well as translational and collaborative research across all basic and clinical departments. The quid pro quo in joining the council was that I help Hopkins think through how doctors and scientists are educated (in addition to raising money), and in exchange I get to talk to scientists doing microbiome research, and other top scientists in the world.
One of the leading health care systems in the United States.
Member Board of Trustees
2015
Invited to join the Board of Trustees of the natural history museum of the Adirondacks, committed to a future where people and the natural world thrive together. www.wildcenter.org. An awesome team and Board, and satisfies my interest in the environment, ecology, and another great reason to get to the Adirondacks (I’m now at 11 high peaks over the past 3 years, on my journey to the 46er goal).
Founder
2013
My vehicle for investing time and/or money in early stage companies and growing ventures. Selectively working with leaders of early stage and growing internet, education, and health sciences companies as an advisor, investor or Board member. No web site, and this is the extent of my marketing efforts, so message me if you're interested in working together. Current and recent engagements include: https://www.tohigherground.com/ https://www.h1insights.com/ https://www.thinkhuman.tv/ https://www.olivemypickle.com/ https://brainly.com/ https://www.benesse-hd.co.jp/en/ https://askwonder.com/ https://www.lingolive.com/ https://tryme360.com/ https://www.justmote.me/ https://www.nu.edu/ https://campus.org/ https://litteraeducation.com/ https://www.kraftylab.com/ https://www.beanstack.com/
Board of Directors Observer
2019
Higher Ground is dedicated to mainstreaming and modernizing Montessori education.
Higher Ground Education aims to bring the Montessori education methodology to the mainstream through modernization.
Raised $40,000,000.00 from HEAL Partners, Venn Growth Partners, Peak State Ventures, Learn Capital, Angel Collective Opportunity Fund, Nimble Ventures and Nathan Doctor.
Venture Partner, EdTech
2018
Joined a recently launched $150MM venture fund investing in early stage EdTech, Digital Health, and PropertyTech companies. I'm focussed on edtech, but happy to talk about other tech-enabled opportunities. Still helping great entrepreneurs, and now it can come with a sizable check. More info about our team and focus at http://peakstate.vc/
Peak State Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in the Future of Work
Venture Partner
2017
NextGen Venture Partners typically invests $1-2 million in seed-stage companies. Venture Partners are founders and innovators across the country whose expertise support NextGen's portfolio growth.
NextGen Venture Partners invests in seed-stage companies with the participation of their venture partners.
Member of the Executive Advisors Network (XAN)
2016
As a member of the Executive Advisors Network for Columbia Technology Ventures, I will be working with entrepreneurs and inventors at Columbia University to facilitate the transfer of research innovations from the lab to the market, as well as supporting start-up efforts. Columbia Technology Ventures, the technology transfer office of Columbia University, manages more than 350 invention disclosures from faculty, 100 license deals and 20 new start-ups each year. CTV currently has over 1200 patent assets available for licensing across research fields such as biopharma, medical devices, software, cleantech, semiconductors, and material science. To learn more about CTV and available inventions, please visit www.techventures.columbia.edu.
Columbia Technology Ventures engages in the facilitation of technology transfer services for the Columbia University.
Education
BA
1986 - 1990