Emal joined Sterling in 2019 and is an Operating Partner. Prior to Sterling, he was Head of Strategy and Chief of Staff at Laureate Education, the largest international network of degree-granting higher education institutions. In his role, he was responsible for leading strategy and corporate development/M&A, driving various strategic and business development initiatives, working directly with the Board of Directors, and for leading the Company’s B Corp certification when it became the largest B Corp in the world.
Prior to Laureate, he was Director of Strategy and Planning at Saint-Gobain, a $60 billion French conglomerate, where he also led global business development for the company’s alternative energy business. Emal started his career in investment banking.
Emal serves or has served as a board member or observer on several education companies/institutions, including Coursera, the American University of Afghanistan (US government funded), the World Affairs Council in DC and ReCoded, a United Nations-funded non-profit coding school for refugees. Additionally, he is a member of the Education Leadership Council at the Brookings Institution, where he writes on global education trends, and a Board Advisor at The Aspen Institute’s workforce analytics initiative. Emal is also a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations. Emal holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics with a minor in German from UCLA and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
REPRESENTATIVE PORTFOLIO COMPANIES
- Cintana Education
- Escape Studios
- Lecturio
- HCI Australia
- CinLearn