Our Board of Directors

Aarthi Sowrirajan

Director, Senior Portfolio Manager, BlackRock

Aarthi Sowrirajan is a Senior Portfolio Manager for BlackRock’s Alternative Solutions Group (ASG) within BlackRock Alternative Investors (BAI). An experienced impact investor, Aarthi manages the implementation of the BlackRock Impact Opportunities (BIO) Fund – a private markets, multi-alternatives fund focused on investing through a racial equity lens. Previously, she worked for Turner Impact Capital, a real estate investor and developer, managing the charter school development process from start to finish.

Aarthi is an active board member of the Equitas Charter School. She has a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the Wharton School.

Buddy Philpot

Family Adviser
Walton Enterprises

Since 2016, Buddy has served as the Senior Family Adviser on the Walton Enterprises team. Prior to joining Walton Enterprises, Buddy was the Executive Director of the Walton Family Foundation from 2001-2016. As Executive Director, he lead program strategy and grew the foundation’s annual grantmaking from $40 million in 2000 to $5 billion in 2016. Before joining the foundation, Buddy spent more than 20 years in commercial banking, joining the Arvest Bank Group in 1987 as a founding team member and later serving as President for 10 years. He continues to serve the bank as a member of the Board of Directors and on the Executive Loan Committee.

Buddy is an active board member on national and community non-profit initiatives serving as a Director at EFF, Building Charters Fund, a member of the Northwest Arkansas Council, a Director of Camp War Eagle and on the Finance Council at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. Buddy is a founding Board Member of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Endeavor Foundation and The Jones Center for Families.

Buddy has a BSBA in Finance and Banking from the University of Arkansas and a Graduate Degree in Banking from the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at SMU.

Kevin Hall

President & CEO
Charter School Growth Fund

Kevin has served as CEO of CSGF since 2009. Before joining CSGF, Kevin was chief operating officer of the Broad Foundation, where he led various aspects of the foundation’s grant investment strategy. Prior to Broad, he co-founded and led business development for Chancellor Beacon Academies, a manager of charter and private schools across the United States. Previously, he ran a division of infoUSA and worked at McKinsey & Co., Goldman Sachs, and Teach for America. Kevin taught elementary school in central Los Angeles.

Kevin earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and BA from Swarthmore College.

Scott Pearson

Former Executive Director
DC Public Charter Schools

Scott Pearson is the Executive Director of the DC Public Charter School Board (DCPCSB). Since joining DC PCSB in 2012, Mr. Pearson has implemented significant reforms in how the Board approves and oversees charter schools, making it a national model for charter school authorizing. Under Scott’s leadership, DC PCSB has pioneered new strategies, tough and rigorous oversight and best practices that other authorizers around the nation are adopting.

Previously, Scott served in the Obama Administration as the Deputy of the Office of Innovation and Improvement for the U.S. Department of Education. He also co-founded Leadership Public Schools, a network of college-prep public charter high schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Scott has a long career in business. At America Online, he was responsible for acquisitions and strategic planning as the company’s Vice President for Corporate Development. At Bain and Company, Scott provided strategic management consulting services to clients in education, healthcare, media, and aviation. He currently is the Board Chair of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA).

Scott holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Wesleyan University, a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a Masters in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.