For the past five years, Steven Hodas has worked closely with numerous early-stage entrepreneurs, investors, and accelerators, and launched two companies of his own. From 2012 to 2014 he served as Executive Director of the New York City Department of Education’s Office of Innovation as head of its Ecosystem Initiative, which seeks to foster smart demand and create new modes of problem-solving for departments of education. In that capacity he created the first-ever district software challenges as alternatives to procurement, the first test-bed collaborations between schools and early–stage education technology companies, and the first district API for student and system data. While at NASA, Hodas built the U.S. government’s first public website, connecting teachers and students with rich scientific resources to support innovative STEM education, and launching his career as an education technology entrepreneur. He went on to create the internet’s most popular sites for high school and college students and the first large-scale formative assessment and personalized learning platforms for school districts.