Elizabeth Chou

Susan Cates

Stephanie Nieman

Leeds Illuminate

Susan Cates
Managing Partner
Susan has over 25 years of experience in private equity, investment banking, and education leadership. Prior to joining Leeds, Susan was Chief Operating Officer at 2U, Inc., where she oversaw all product and service delivery operations. She was a founding team member of ThinkEquity Partners, where she led the education banking vertical, and a partner at Best Associates, where she led investments in education platforms across the U.S. and Latin America. Susan served as President of Executive Development at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, and led the creation and growth of the school's ground-breaking online MBA program, MBA@UNC. Susan began her career as an investment banker at Wachovia Bank and Merrill Lynch.


Elizabeth Chou
Partner
Elizabeth has over 10 years investing in impact education and workforce development companies and over 15 years of investment experience across the capital structure from early stage equity through later stage equity and debt. Prior to joining Leeds, Elizabeth was a General Partner at New Markets Venture Partners where she spent nearly a decade investing in early and growth stage companies in K12, higher education and workforce development. Prior to joining New Markets, Elizabeth was a Senior Associate at The Gladstone Companies where she focused on control equity and mezzanine debt investments. Elizabeth began her career as an Account Executive with M&T Bank's Commercial & Industrial Middle Market Lending Group.


Stephanie Nieman
Managing Director
Stephanie has over 15 years of growth equity, impact investing, and capital markets experience. Prior to joining Leeds Illuminate, Stephanie was a Principal at SJF Ventures where she spent eight years investing in health, education, and workforce companies. Prior to SJF, Stephanie was a Director at B Lab, where she worked on creating market standards for measuring and managing impact. Earlier in her career, Stephanie was in sales and business development at Pearson Education and started her career at Lehman Brothers in institutional equity sales.