Team

Ben Nelson is Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Minerva, and a visionary with a passion to reinvent higher education. Nelson started 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. Over the past decade, Nelson has built Minerva University into the most selective, innovative (ranked #1 according to WURI rankings), and effective university in the US, and has developed a business – Minerva Project – to share Minerva's unique approach with other like-minded institutions. Prior to Minerva, Nelson spent more than 10 years at Snapfish, where he helped build the company from startup to the world’s largest personal publishing service, with over 42 million transactions across 22 countries, nearly five times greater than its closest competitor. Prior to joining Snapfish, Nelson was President and CEO of Community Ventures, a network of locally branded portals for American communities. Nelson’s passion for reforming undergraduate education was first sparked in college where he created a blueprint for curricular reform in his first year of school. Nelson went on to become the chair of the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education (SCUE), a pedagogical think tank at the University of Pennsylvania. Nelson holds a B.S in Economics from University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

Meaghan Duff is Vice President of Programs at Minerva Project. She leads program strategy and implementation for Minerva's postsecondary education partnerships worldwide. Together with her team of learning innovation and partner success experts, Meaghan ensures that students and faculty at partner institutions benefit fully from Minerva's best-in-class pedagogy, curriculum, and tools. Across her career in higher education - at Blackboard, APLU, EVERFI, EDUCAUSE, Faculty Guild, and as an independent consultant - Meaghan has worked in partnership with colleges and universities to improve education quality and access through digital learning. She studied history at the University of Virginia and Trinity College Dublin and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from the College of William & Mary.

Joshua Fost is Vice President of Product and Technology. 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.

Ayo Seligman leads the Strategy & Design practice at Minerva, 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.

Sharan C. Singh is Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. 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.

Diana El-Azar is Managing Director of Marketing and Thought Leadership. El-Azar has over 20 years’ experience in the private and not-for-profit sectors, namely in strategic communications, business development and stakeholder management. She spent over 12 years at the World Economic Forum (WEF) where her most recent role was heading Marketing and Outreach, engaging over 1000 companies in corporate citizenship issues such as gender, sustainability or education. Previously she built and managed partnerships with C-suite executives from Fortune 500 companies in the media and technology sectors. Prior to the WEF, she held various business positions with Reuters in Beirut, London, Paris and New York. She also worked with the United Nations Development Program, and taught freshman economics at the American University of Beirut. El-Azar holds a B.A. in Economics from the American University of Beirut and an M.Phil in Economics of Developing Countries from Cambridge University.